ANCWL assets: free-for-all bonanza

Troubled ANC Women’s League president and social development minister Sisisi Tolashe is set to tell the ANC integrity commission that she cannot be condemned for the Chinese SUVs that are in her custodianship and used by her children because it is common
practice in the organisation.

Tolashe’s associates, who have intimate knowledge of her defence strategy, told Sunday World that she would reveal shocking details of years of poor governance systems in the league, with almost all movable and immovable assets donated to the structure registered in people’s names and some later abandoned.

In this regard, Tolashe plans to tell the ethics body of the ANC that even the previous leaders of the women’s league, its ex-president Bathabile Dlamini and former secretary-general Meokgo Matuba, still use cars that were donated to the league – a BMW for Dlamini and a Jeep for Matuba.

There were also about a dozen other luxury vehicles in provinces used by former leaders of the ANCWL.

Tolashe has been in the news after revelations that she accepted two luxury Chinese SUVs donated to the women’s league, but passed the vehicles onto her children instead.

She is also being taken to task over failure to declare the vehicles in the MPs’ register of interests, as required by Parliamentary rules. Responding to a question from ActionSA MP Dereleen James, Tolashe said there was no need to declare the vehicles as they were donated to the ANCWL. However, the women’s league has denied knowledge of the donations.

Sunday World understands the minister apparently plans to blow the lid off many other assets, including cash, mine shares, buildings, and multiple pieces of land belonging to the league that were apparently registered in the names of individuals or entities.

The sources said Tolashe’s defence was that the women’s league does not have a proper assets register, leading to years of a free-for-all arrangement when dealing with donations.

“She will tell the integrity commission that the vehicles in question were always properly characterised as organisational assets of the ANC Women’s League, notwithstanding the form in which they may have been registered or used by her,” said an associate of Tolashe’s, who is also a minister.

“The reality is that the way in which women’s league assets were historically registered reflects a pattern of decentralised custodianship within the organisation and does not mean personal ownership or entitlement, and this is how Sisisi always understood to be the case.

“This fragmented and non-systematised asset management approach over years resulted in assets being held outside of a centralised and formally recorded structure, which is why Sisisi is not the only one who has custodianship of women’s league assets.”

Insiders at the league’s head office revealed that Tolashe had started a process of reclaiming all assets belonging to the women’s league and that plans to develop a proper asset register were advanced.

This newspaper was shown a list of other assets that have been identified as belonging to the women’s league but are in the custody of individuals.

Besides the four SUVs used by Tolashe, Dlamini and Matuba, there were apparently nine other luxury vehicles belonging to provincial structures of the women’s league but used and controlled by other individuals.

It has also been discovered that cash and other cash-related assets are also in the hands of people in their personal capacities, as are lucrative mine and mining rights assets.

Several huge pieces of land, some now invaded, and farms across the country were other assets being recovered. Buildings, laptops and industrial sewing machines belonging to the league have also been used by private individuals and are being recovered.

Tolashe’s friends said they have advised her to tell the truth, which includes that she did not declare the vehicles in Parliament because she always knew they belonged to the league and that she did not register them under her children’s names to conceal anything.

“It is simple what she must tell the integrity commission regarding her role in the saga of the vehicles; she did not mislead Parliament, and these assets do not belong to her but have always belonged to the league.

“She acted in good faith and never hid the fact that these were not her assets, so why must she be punished?” asked a close confidante of Tolashe.

“The logic is simple: why was she supposed to declare vehicles she knew for a fact were not hers personally?

“Of course, issues of the executive ethics code as it relates to her must be read in line with the correct legal characterisation of the ownership of the vehicles which everyone agrees belong to the women’s league.

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