Troubled ANC Women’s League president Bathabile Dlamini was on Wednesday found guilty of perjury by the Johannesburg magistrates court.
Dlamini, a member of the ruling party’s national executive committee, was found guilty by magistrate Betty Khumalo, despite technical glitches that had caused the ruling to be temporarily adjourned.
Her case related to false evidence she gave under oath through her affidavits to the Constitutional Court regarding the South African Social Security Agency’s hefty and unlawful tender awarded to Cash Paymaster Services.
The company was responsible for distributing social grant payments to beneficiaries.
In 2017, the apex court had referred its ruling to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for consideration and to determine if the former minister of social development should be prosecuted for perjury or not.
In August 2021, the NPA announced that it had decided to prosecute the ANC veteran.
This after the inquiry, led by retired Gauteng judge Bernard Ngoepe, had found that Dlamini not only failed to do her job, she had also failed to be honest in disclosing information to the ConCourt.
Dlamini’s defence team argued in court in February that the embattled ANC’s leader should be acquitted because Section 38 proceedings had cited that the Ngoepe inquiry was not a formal judicial structure.
Dlamini was supported in court by the suspended ANC’s secretary-general Ace Magashule, former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo, and ANC’s veteran Tony Yengeni, among other ANC leaders who turned up in court.
Also read: Mkhwebane suffers another legal blow
Bathabile Dlamini denies lying under oath on charges of perjury
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