Sassa grants saga: Here’s when Bathabile Dlamini will go on trial for perjury

Former social development minister and ANC Women’s League president Bathabile Dlamini’s South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) perjury case resumed at the Johannesburg Magistrates Court on Friday.

Dlamini, who made her second appearance, was joined in court by recently reinstated ANC member Carl Niehaus, who said on social media:

“We must stand with our comrades and support each other when we are being targeted and persecuted.”

Bathabile Dlamini’s perjury case

The Sassa crisis case so far

Dlamini is facing charges related to her testimony during an inquiry ordered by the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) with regards to her role in the social grants crisis of 2017.

The 2018 inquiry was instituted by the ConCourt over an unlawful contract between the Sassa and its former grants distributor, Cash Paymaster Services (CPS).

At the time, Judge Bernard Ngoepe said Dlamini’s conduct was found to be reckless and “grossly negligent”. She was ordered to pay litigation fees as well.

Perjury case will proceed November

On 21 September 2021, Dlamini appeared briefly in court. Her case was postponed to 1 October, to allow the state and her legal representatives time to exchange the contents of the docket.

Back in August, the director of public prosecutions in Gauteng issued a summons for the ANC Women’s League president to appear in court for alleged perjury.

On Friday, Magistrate Betty Khumalo ruled that the perjury case would proceed on 24 November 2021.