‘There was a process that was followed,’ says ANCWL on Bathabile Dlamini’s appointment

The African National Congress Women’s League’s (ANCWL) National Task Team (NTT) says it cannot “unpack” what the ANC will do or not do with Bathabile Dlamini.

Addressing the media on Tuesday on the outcomes of the meeting of the NTT, which took place on Birchwood Conference Centre in Ekurhuleni on Monday, the organisation said members of the NTT, including Dlamini, were appointed by the ANC NEC.

The NTT was responding to questions about Dlamini’s appointment in light of her legal predicament and the ruling party’s step-aside rule.

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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Responding to questions on Dlamini’s appointment, co-ordinator of the ANCWL’s task team Maropene Ramokgopa said only the mother body could speak on it.

“We were appointed by the ANC NEC and Bathabile Dlamini was part of the appointments of the entity as a whole. There was a process that was followed and talks were made between the SGO and Bathabile and that process includes the issues that will deal with ANC internal issues.

“We don’t make decisions on our own, so Bathabile Dlamini has been appointed with us as the NTT of the ANCWL, that was communicated to us by the ANC NEC. As a result, she stands as any other entity member to be elected in the working committee. On how the process of the ANC is going to evolve, that is something we cannot speak about here. We can only speak about what we know and we cannot unpack what is it that the ANC will do or not do.”

“We are all entity members in our rights, they checked the issue of generational mix, which is why there is a younger generation here. We also looked at geographical spread and the national question, this is what informed the constitution of this working committee. There was no vote of confidence on anyone. The members of the entity that were in the previous NEC did not come as a unit, they came as individuals.”

Additional reporting by Molefe Seeletsa