The Public Protector‚ Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane‚ has agreed to a request from the Democratic Alliance to investigate Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini for allegedly wilfully misleading Parliament‚ the party says.
Welcoming the decision‚ DA spokesperson on social development Bridget Masango said the party believed that Dlamini had breached the Executive Ethics Code when she delivered her 2016 budget vote speech in Parliament.
In her speech‚ Dlamini stated that SASSA would be ready to institutionalise the distribution of social grants come 1st April 2017. Yet‚ less than a year later‚ SASSA officials informed Parliament’s Social Development Committee that SASSA had failed to procure an alternative service provider‚ Masango said.
“Last month‚ Zane Dangor and Thokozani Magwaza filed damning affidavits with the Constitutional Court‚ in which both claim that Dlamini‚ not only deliberately tried to ensure that CPS continued with its invalid contract‚ but also knew since 2015 that SASSA would not be ready to distribute social grants.
“The investigation by the PP will be an important step towards finally holding Dodging Dlamini to account for playing political games with the livelihoods of 17 million South Africans‚” Masango added.
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