Justice minister faces ANC integrity commission over VBS broker claims

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Thembi Simelane is expected to appear before the ANC integrity commission on Wednesday to clear her name following allegations that she ā€œtook half a million from an accused VBS brokerā€.

Sunday WorldĀ can today reveal that Simelane wrote to the integrity commission on August 27 and asked for an audience so she could take it ā€œinto confidence about the historical facts of what happened with the transaction in questionā€.

As Simelane navigates the ANCā€™s internal processes to clear her name, President Cyril Ramaphosa is feeling the weight of expectations from various groups urging him to consider removing her from her role as justice minister to prevent any potential conflicts of interest in prosecutorial decisions. Simelane, however, firmly rejects these claims.

In her letter to the commission chairman Reverend Frank Chikane, Simelane emphasised it was ā€œimportant to clarify so that there is no fertile ground to sully my character as the deployee of the ANC serving in cabinet and subsequently bring the name of the organisation into disreputeā€.

ā€œThere has been a concerted effort to try and [drag] my name through the mud, and the first of these attacks came through questions linking me to a company I registered almost two decades ago. It was said through the media inquiries that the company has been actively doing business, and I have not declared such to parliament.ā€

Simelane added in her letter that she told the journalist the company ā€œnever even opened a bank account, let alone to do business. It was strange that the digging into my personal affairs had gone that far.ā€Ā 

Simelane told the commissionĀ  in her letter the media allegations against her are ā€œbaselessā€.

Sunday WorldĀ reported last week that Simelane admitted to Ramaphosa that she had a R575ā€…600 loan with Gundo Wealth Solutions.

Simelane told Ramaphosa she paidĀ  back ā€œGundo Wealth Solutions an amount of R849ā€…999, for which R575ā€…600 was the capital amount outstanding and an amount of R274 399 was interest on the loaned amountā€.

She told the integrity commission that Gundo Wealth Solutions is a registered financial service provider ā€œthat provides financial advisory servicesā€.


She said the relationship between herself and the company director ā€œwas that of a client and a financial advisorā€.

Simelaneā€™s spokesperson Tsekiso Machike yesterday said: ā€œThere is no conflict of interest between the National Prosecuting Authority and the minister, … in respect of an investigation by the Directorate of Priority Crimes. As a cabinet member responsible for the administration of justice, the minister has no authority to interfere with decisions to prosecute or not.

She is legally empowered to issue policy directives, which must be observed in the prosecution process. The minister will only act in accordance with the powers vested in her by the constitution and the law.ā€

During her tenure as mayor, Polokwane municipalityĀ  invested R349-million in VBS Mutual Bank, which was paid in four tranches. ā€œThe municipality subsequently reviewed its investments and withdrew all its investments from VBS Mutual Bank, together with interest on investment, and did not lose a single cent, following its collapse,ā€ Simelane wrote.

Gundo Wealth Solutions was appointed as an investment manager by the municipality under strict conditions that they ā€œwouldnā€™t be paid an administration fee nor any other fees for the advisory servicesā€, according to Simelane.

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