Bathabile Dlamini disqualified as candidate for all ANC positions

Former ANC Women’s League leader Bathabile Dlamini has been disqualified from running for a position in the African National Congress (ANC) national executive committee (NEC).

“The vetting process as conducted by agency of the Electoral Committee has revealed information which negatively affects your eligibility to stand for nomination as a candidate for all NEC positions during the 55th National Conference,” reads a letter signed by electoral committee chairperson Kgalema Motlanthe.

The letter was shared by Dlamini on social media on Thursday.

According to the ANC’s controversial step-aside resolution, members who have either been charged or convicted for a crime in a court of law should not run for leadership positions.

However, this excludes leaders implicated at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture and other probes.

“The vetting information at our disposal reveals that you have a historical record of being found guilty of a serious crime in a court of law for which the prison sentence had been more than six months,” reads the letter sent to Dlamini.

“To be specific, you are summarily disqualified as a candidate for all NEC positions including members during the 55th National Conference as per the following rules which have been approved by the NEC.”

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In July, Dlamini made headlines after being appointed to the ANC Women’s League’s (ANCWL) National Task Team (NTT).

Addressing the media following the appointment, the organisation said members of the NTT, including Dlamini, were appointed by the ANC NEC.

The former social development minister was in April slapped with a suspended jail sentence and a fine in her perjury case.

Dlamini, in March, was found guilty of perjury for lying under oath at an inquiry, which had investigated her role in the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) 2017 crisis.

At the time, Magistrate Betty Khumalo stated that she was satisfied that the former minister had lied under oath.

“The accused is accordingly sentenced to a fine of R200,000 or four years imprisonment and half of the sentence is suspended for a period of five years on the condition that the accused is not convicted on the offence of perjury,” Khumalo ruled at the time.

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