It has been almost three months since it emerged that Thembi Simelane, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s justice minister, received a “loan” from a dodgy supplier linked to the collapse of VBS Mutual Bank in Limpopo. Yet, no action has been taken against her.
By the time you read this editorial, Ramaphosa, who has received all the documents he asked for from Simelane, would have arrived in Russia to attend the annual summit of Brics+ leaders.
This means that Simelane continues in office, making consequential decisions despite the cloud hanging over her head because of the money she received from Gundo Wealth Solutions, a company that encouraged municipalities around the country to invest millions in the bank.
The municipalities and parastatals continued depositing funds into VBS Mutual Bank in clear contravention of an instruction from the National Treasury that such transactions were illegal.
Gundo made millions from the municipalities for deal origination, including at Polokwane, of which Simelane was executive mayor.
In an interesting twist, Simelane, shortly before Covid-19 struck, sourced a loan from Gundo to buy a coffee shop in Gauteng. This was after a government investigation recommended action be taken against officials, including her. She was given a slap on the wrist months before being deployed to national government as deputy minister of local government. She was then promoted to full minister.
After this year’s election, in which the ANC performed dismally, she got another promotion: this time, she was made justice & constitutional development minister in spite of her controversial track record.
When the media exposed the previously unknown loan saga, the president called her in and asked for reports. He is believed to have received all the documents he asked for. Yet, no action has been taken. Instead, the president is still applying his mind.
The ANC’s integrity commission, the party’s ethics watchdog, is known to have been told that Ramaphosa knew of Simelane’s involvement with VBS Mutual Bank, including the loan issue before her appointments. She has since walked back on the latter version.
A new narrative is gaining traction. The VBS Mutual Bank loan issue is allegedly being brought up now because she is refusing to support the extension of the contract of Shamila Batohi as head of the National Prosecuting Authority and that the minister is refusing to hand over files from the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture and corruption.
True or false, this narrative is helpful in painting Simelane as a victim. It is, however, unhelpful to Ramaphosa, who came to office on a clean governance ticket in 2018. His inaction suggests that he believes this convenient narrative.
The president’s partners in the government of national unity have asked Ramaphosa to suspend Simelane while he applies his mind.
In 2018, he fired Nhlanhla Nene when it emerged that the then finance minister had lied to a journalist — not under oath — about his interactions with the Gupta family. In 2019, Ramaphosa fired all the ministers who were linked to state capture. In 2020, he suspended his ally, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, for breaching Covid-19 regulations.
Simelane’s loan issue is far more serious than the breaches by Nene and Ndabeni-Abrahams. Still, the president finds it difficult to act. Every day that passes without action makes him seem ridiculous in his claim to fight corruption. Minimally, he should place Simelane on special leave.
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