WATCH | ‘We don’t want to prejudice anyone’: Mbalula on calls for justice minister Simelane to step aside

The ANC will need time to mull over justice minister Thembi Simelane’s loan from Gundo Wealth Solutions, which is implicated in the VBS Mutual Bank scandal, before entertaining calls for her to step aside, says secretary-general Fikile Mbalula.

Opposition parties and government of national unity (GNU) partners have made calls for Simelane to be removed from office pending investigations. The calls stem from the ongoing investigation into the VBS scandal.

Simelane, while serving as the mayor of Polokwane in 2016, took a R600,000 loan from a company implicated in the looting of VBS.

Addressing the media on Monday in Ekurhuleni, Mbalula said the party did not want to “prejudice” Simelane. He said Simelane would present herself to the ANC’s integrity commission to provide her side of the story.

“From the point of the ANC, we’ve received the report from the minister. The minister will be subjected to the ANC integrity commission. She will present herself to the commission. On receiving a full account of what happened, the integrity commission will recommend to the national executive committee what must happen to the comrade,” said Mbalula.

“We have checks and balances in the party and the integrity commission to deal with the matter of Simelane regarding VBS, based on a full account. On the basis of that, we will evaluate what steps need to be taken. We don't want to prejudice any individual in this regard. We'll follow the processes of the organisation we've set in motion.”

He confirmed President Cyril Ramaphosa received the report from Simelane regarding the VBS matter, and would decide whether the minister was fit to hold office.

“How she’s affected by the debacle in relation to her responsibilities as a minister, playing an executive role in terms of the cabinet, it is the prerogative of the president to deal with whether the minister is fit,” said Mbalula.

“What an individual does in the public domain to clear herself in terms of engagement is her own call, and she’s doing it on her own behalf. It’s not the ANC mandate.”

Simelane last week appeared before the portfolio committee on justice in parliament, where she said the loan — which she repaid in full, came from Gundo, and that she was not aware of their involvement with VBS when she took the loan.

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