Justice Minister Thembi Simelane is in trouble. (Photo by Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday removed Justice Minister Thembi Simelane, who has been accused of corruption, from his portfolio and reassigned him to the human settlements portfolio in a cabinet reshuffle.
Simelane will immediately be replaced by Mamoloko Kubai, one of the president's staunchest allies on the ANC national executive committee.
Simelane is accused of receiving a R500,000 “loan” from Gundo Wealth Solutions that facilitated an illegal investment by the Polokwane Municipality in the now-defunct VBS Mutual Bank in 2016 while he was mayor. are.
Citing the resulting conflict of interest, the president is increasing pressure to take action against Simelan and remove her from the portfolio of the national prosecutor's office.
She is also at the center of a series of investigations by News24 into allegations that Mr Simelane was living far beyond his means while mayor of Polokwane, where he recovered R349 million illegally invested in VBS.
Mr. Simelane has not been charged criminally.
In a statement released on Tuesday night, the president said he made the executive branch appointments “to ensure the effectiveness of the Cabinet in carrying out its duties” in accordance with his powers under Article 91, Section 2 of the Constitution.
Prime Minister Ramaphosa said it had also been decided to transfer Deputy Minister of Minerals and Petroleum Resources Phumzile Mgushina to the Employment and Labor portfolio. Deputy Employment and Labor Minister Judith Menadinga-Shabalala will take over Mgushina's role on behalf of Minister Gwede Mantashe.
The president's reassignment of Simelane is clearly a response to growing pressure to remove her from the Ministry of Justice over corruption allegations against her, but the president has been criticized for not removing her from senior positions altogether.
Glynis Breitenbach, the Democratic Alliance's justice and constitutional affairs spokesperson, said the decision to keep Simelane in the cabinet was “short-sighted and disrespectful to South Africa”. Mr. Simelane is not a member of the Cabinet.
“While the President has finally addressed the intolerable conflict of interest of accusing the Minister of Justice of corruption, his decision to simply move her elsewhere does not address the fundamental problem. He has been charged with a crime and is the subject of an investigation.”
Breitenbach said human settlements is an important sector that “must be led by someone who can be trusted.”
“This indecision from a president who is clearly committed to fighting corruption is especially shocking and completely disingenuous. Our country deserves better.”
She called on the president to immediately remove Simelane from his cabinet “in the interest of the republic.”
In September, Ms Simelane told Parliament's Justice Portfolio Committee that the loan she took out to buy the Sandton coffee shop would be repaid in three installments and that the money the municipality had invested in VBS would be recovered before the bank collapsed. said that it was done.
