It’s the end of road for Bathabile Dlamini

Any hope disgraced former social development minister Bathabile Dlamini might have had of returning to a career in public service were likely dashed on Wednesday, when she was convicted of perjury for lying under oath at an inquiry to, among others, probe her role in the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) crisis.

The Criminal Procedure Act provides for a variety of punishments for the crime of perjury, including direct imprisonment. But the state only asked for a hefty fine and criminal law expert Dr Llewelyn Curlewis doubted she would end up behind bars.

“I suspect because of the seriousness of the offence – and especially her having been a public official – she might be sentenced to prison time, but it will likely be wholly suspended, coupled with a fine,” he said.

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He did, however, say it was unlikely she would be eligible to occupy any public office in future. The constitution doesn’t automatically bar anyone with a criminal record from being a member of the National Assembly, only those “convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment without the option of a fine”.

But the Public Service Act does state that “no person shall be appointed permanently, whether on probation or not, to any post on the establishment in a department unless he or she … is a fit and proper person”.

And as Curlewis said: “She now has a very serious conviction, which has a direct bearing on her standing as a fit and proper person.”

The case brought against Dlamini related to allegations that she lied under oath at an inquiry to, among others, probe her role in the Sassa crisis. 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.

It was over the state’s failure to appoint a new grants facilitator after its contract with Cash Paymaster Services was declared invalid, which almost left about 17 million grant beneficiaries high and dry.

After the Constitutional Court’s initial ruling, which found in favour of Black Sash and made an order for the payments to proceed, 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, he found Dlamini to have been “evasive” and that she had not disclosed certain information for fear of being held personally liable.

The court issued Dlamini with a personal costs order and referred Ngoepe’s report to the country’s prosecuting authorities to establish whether she had lied under oath and should be prosecuted.

The charges levelled against Dlamini related, in particular, to allegations that she lied when she said the workstream appointed to help Sassa did not report directly to her. In finding her guilty, Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court magistrate Betty Khumalo said the evidence before her pointed to a finding that the workstreams did, indeed, report directly to Dlamini.

The defence had argued that the state’s case was that Dlamini had attended meetings “of” the workstreams when, in fact, she had only attended meetings “with” the workstreams.

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But Khumalo found it was “grasping at straws” and “playing with semantics” and that the argument had no merit.

“I am therefore satisfied the state has succeeded beyond reasonable doubt to prove the case against the accused on the main count,” she said. Sentencing is expected next month.

– bernadettew@citizen.co.za