Bathabile Dlamini found guilty of perjury in Sassa crisis case

Former social development minister Bathabile Dlamini has been found guilty of perjury in her case relating to the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) 2017 crisis.

The Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court delivered its judgment on Wednesday, with suspended ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule, former North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo, uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Association (MKMVA) spokesperson Carl Niehaus, and ANC member Tony Yengeni all in court to support Dlamini.

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After proceedings were adjourned due to technical difficulties, Magistrate Betty Khumalo gave her ruling, saying the state had “succeeded” in proving “beyond reasonable doubt” that Dlamini lied under oath.

“The accused is accordingly found guilty as charged in respect of the main charge of perjury,” Khumalo said.

Dlamini’s trial kicked off in November last year after having pleaded not guilty to the perjury charges against her.

She had sought to have the charges discharged, however, her application was dismissed by Magistrate Khumalo in December.

Workstreams

Dlamini was accused of having lied under oath while giving testimony during an inquiry instituted by the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) in 2018.

In the inquiry, the former minister claimed that the work streams – she appointed in 2016 – did not report to her directly, and that she attended meetings to receive briefings.

She had set up these workstreams so that Sassa could take over the payment of social grants from former grants distributor, Cash Paymaster Services (CPS).

This was after the ConCourt found that the contract between Sassa and CPS was unlawful.

The irregular contract had been extended to 31 March 2017 after Sassa assured that it would be ready to take over the grant payment by 1 April 2017.

However, Sassa failed to meet this deadline.

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This resulted in the ConCourt ordering an inquiry to be established, which was chaired by Judge Bernard Ngoepe to investigate Dlamini’s conduct in the grant crisis.

Ngoepe found that Dlamini not only failed in her duties as minister, but also failed to disclose information to the inquiry for fear of being held liable for the Sassa crisis.

The former minister was ordered to pay litigation fees, which she paid in 2021.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) decided to prosecute Dlamini for perjury in August 2021, and a summons was then issued for her to appear in court.

The case against Dlamini originally stemmed from an application by Black Sash and Freedom Under Law (FUL) to the ConCourt in a bid to hold the former minister accountable for her role in the Sassa crisis, which placed the livelihoods of 17 million grant recipients at risk.