Minister of Human Settlements, Thembi Simelane, finds herself at the centre of yet another corruption storm as the Democratic Alliance (DA) gears up to lay criminal charges against her over allegations involving overbilling Eskom through her previous employer, Vitrovian.
Simelane, who has also been implicated in the collapse of now defunct VBS Mutual Bank, is accused of earning more than R700,000 while working for Vitrovian, which was hired to suppress protests at the Kusile power plant.
Vitrovian allegedly inflated its charges, overbilling the power utility for work performed by non-existent employees.
According to News24, she joined Vitrovian as a project director in October 2011 until March 2012.
Alarmingly, Simelane’s signature has been linked to some of these inflated invoices, added the publication.
“This allegation follows hot on the heels of reports that implicated Simelane in the VBS looting scandal,” said DA spokesperson on Justice and Constitutional Development, advocate Glynnis Breytenbach.
Breytenbach claimed President Cyril Ramaphosa has made it clear that he intends to protect corrupt ANC members in his cabinet, paying lip service to tackling corruption.
She further criticised the presidency for rejecting the DA’s Promotion of Access to Information Act appeal, which sought to make public the report Simelane submitted to the president regarding her involvement in the VBS scandal.
She claimed the rejection was based on incorrect legal grounds and a failure to consider the public interest.
“The DA is astonished by the President’s continued insistence on hiding what he knows about Simelane’s corrupt dealings from the public.”
“The DA refuses to give up in its fight against the ANC’s protection of corrupt officials and will do everything in its power to end the culture of criminality which permeates ANC structures right to the very top,” Breytenbach said.
Simelane made national headlines last year, after reports revealed that she took R575,600 loan in 2017 from the now collapsed VBS Mutual Bank to purchase a coffee shop in Sandton, Johannesburg.
At the time, she was the mayor of Polokwane Municipality, in Limpopo.
In exchange for facilitating loans to municipalities, VBS bank allegedly paid bribes to the broker, Gundo Wealth Solutions.
Simelane denied any wrongdoing when she appeared before Justice Portfolio Committee in Parliament last year regarding the VBS scandal and the loan she used to buy the coffee shop.
Amid the growing political pressure, President Cyril Ramaphosa moved Simelane from her position as Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development to the ministry of Human Settlements last year in December.
She was replaced by Mmamoloko Kabuyi.
With renewed allegations intensifying, Breytenbach added that the DA has no choice but to lay criminal charges against Simelane over the Eskom and Vitrovian corruption allegations.
“We will also ask the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) about the VBS looting scandal,” Breytenbach said.
She called on the removal of Simelane from Cabinet as minister.
“We further reiterate our call for Simelane to be removed from the cabinet by the President, as a most basic step,” she said.
simon.majadibodu@iol.co.za
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