ActionSA Welcomes Public Protector’s Update on Investigation into Minister Simelane’s Dodgy VBS Linked “Loan”
Press Statement by Athol Trollip MP
ActionSA Parliamentary Leader
ActionSA notes the Public Protector’s progress update, confirming that the investigation is progressing and that the investigating team has received responses from both the President and Minister Simelane, who is the subject of our complaint regarding her so-called R575,000 ‘loan’ from VBS-linked Gundo Wealth Solutions.
While the President keeps demanding “time and space” to address the complaint we filed over 6 months ago on the 26th of August 2024, he instead moved Minister Simelane from Justice to Human Settlements in a late-night December reshuffle — an obvious attempt to shield her from accountability and ease mounting pressure. But no reshuffle can erase the serious allegations of impropriety against her, which call her integrity into question and prove she is far from being beyond reproach.
It’s precisely for this reason that ActionSA will not let this matter fizzle away, as the Minister and President may hope. We will continue to closely monitor the Public Protector’s investigation, ensuring that neither the Minister nor the President can simply sweep these serious allegations under the carpet.
ActionSA has long declared corruption as Public Enemy Number 1, and our fight intensified this week with the announcement of our Zero-Tolerance Corruption Bill, which will strengthen key corruption legislation, expand on the definition of corruption and impose a minimum 15-year sentence for those convicted.
ActionSA Welcomes Public Protector’s Update on Investigation into Minister Simelane’s Dodgy VBS Linked “Loan”
ActionSA notes the Public Protector’s progress update, confirming that the investigation is progressing and that the investigating team has received responses from both the President and Minister Simelane, who is the subject of our complaint regarding her so-called R575,000 ‘loan’ from VBS-linked Gundo Wealth Solutions.
While the President keeps demanding “time and space” to address the complaint we filed over 6 months ago on the 26th of August 2024, he instead moved Minister Simelane from Justice to Human Settlements in a late-night December reshuffle — an obvious attempt to shield her from accountability and ease mounting pressure. But no reshuffle can erase the serious allegations of impropriety against her, which call her integrity into question and prove she is far from being beyond reproach.
It’s precisely for this reason that ActionSA will not let this matter fizzle away, as the Minister and President may hope. We will continue to closely monitor the Public Protector’s investigation, ensuring that neither the Minister nor the President can simply sweep these serious allegations under the carpet.
ActionSA has long declared corruption as Public Enemy Number 1, and our fight intensified this week with the announcement of our Zero-Tolerance Corruption Bill, which will strengthen key corruption legislation, expand on the definition of corruption and impose a minimum 15-year sentence for those convicted.