Black Sash welcomes Bathabile Dlamini’s sentence although she dodged jail

Black Sash has welcomed the sentence handed down to former social development minister Bathabile Dlamini for perjury when she lied under oath at an inquiry to probe her role in the Sassa crisis, with executive director Rachel Bukasa saying it sends a strong message to public officials countrywide.

“We’re happy this has come to a conclusion and we trust it sends a strong message to – and sets a strong precedent for – public officials about the importance of ensuring they work in a way that’s just and equitable for all South Africans and, particularly, coming clean when you mess up, so it can be addressed, rather than lying,” Bukasa said yesterday.

The Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday gave Dlamini an R200 000 fine or four years in prison – half of which was suspended for five years – for the crime.

She has opted to pay the fine, R20 000 of which was paid on Friday, with the remainder due before the end of the month. In 2018, the Constitutional Court slapped Dlamini with hefty personal costs over what it described as, at best, her “reckless and grossly negligent” conduct in a case Black Sash brought against her over the state’s failure to appoint a new grants facilitator.

This was after its contract with Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) was declared invalid, leaving almost 17 million grant beneficiaries high and dry.

After the Constitutional Court’s initial ruling – which found in favour of Black Sash – an inquiry was instituted to investigate Dlamini’s role and help the bench come to a conclusion on the issue of costs.

Judge Bernard Ngoepe oversaw the inquiry and, in his report, found Dlamini to have been “evasive” as well as not disclosing information for fear of being held personally liable.

In the end, the Constitutional Court issued Dlamini with a personal costs order which came to about R650 000 – and referred Ngoepe’s report to the country’s prosecuting authorities to establish if she had lied under oath.

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The case was pursued and she was convicted last month. This marks Dlamini’s second criminal conviction.

In 2003, she was found guilty of fraud over the infamous Travelgate scandal and sentenced to a fine or prison time – opting for the former.

In sentencing her on Friday, magistrate Betty Khumalo said the former minister was looked at as a “role model” during her time in the position, with millions of South Africans putting their trust in her.

“Others may misunderstand the crime of perjury as a light offence with no consequences. It is, however, vividly clear that the consequences were dire … causing unnecessary anxiety for vulnerable members of society,” Khumalo said.

She also said the court had considered as an aggravating factor that Dlamini had shown “no remorse”.

Asked about the court’s decision, Bukasa said all the organisation had wanted was for her to be treated the same way any other South African would.

“Ultimately, what we were looking for was not something extraordinary. We were looking for it to be the same kind of sentence that would have been given to any ordinary South African in the street, had they done something similar with similar repercussions,” she said.