Pressure is mounting on new Justice Minister Thembi Simelane, who took a loan from a company that allegedly looted the now defunct VBS, to come clean.
On Wednesday morning, Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to the President, said in a statement: “President Cyril Ramaphosa has noted with concern media reports containing allegations of corruption against the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Ms. Thembi Simelane”.
Magwenya said: “The President has requested a detailed report and briefing from the minister on the matter.”
Earlier this week on Tuesday, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) on Tuesday called for Minister Simelane’s resignation following reports of suspected links to VBS looting.
In 2016, while she was Polokwane mayor Simelane reportedly received a loan of more than R500 000 from a company that allegedly looted funds from the now-defunct VBS.
The company reportedly brokered unlawful investments of R349 million into VBS Mutual Bank by the Polokwane Municipality, while Simelane was mayor.
However, the justice minister has rejected any suggestions of wrongdoing.
The EFF said: “Minister Simelane’s attempts to dismiss her actions as a legitimate commercial transaction are nothing but a flimsy cover-up.
“Her failure to adequately address the conflict of interest, her role in facilitating these illegal investments, and her subsequent attempts to downplay her involvement are indicative of someone who cannot be trusted with the responsibility of overseeing justice in our nation”.
On Monday ActionSA said it referred the matter to the public protector to urgently probe the matter focusing on a possible violation of the Executive Members’ Ethics Act.
- This article was originally published by The Bulrushes. It is republished by TechFinancials under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence. Read the original article
