ActionSA Parliamentary Leader,Athol Trollip has confirmed that the Office of the Public Protector is in pursuit of Thembi Simelane-Nkadimeng for her involvement in the collapse of VBS Mutual Bank.
Thembi Simelane-Nkadimeng is one of the politician who benefited in a suspicious way from now-defunct VBS Mutual Bank while she serving as Executive Mayor of Polokwane.
On August 2024,her scandal broke out that she received a loan of R575 600 from Gundo Wealth Solutions,a company that was directly linked to the unlawful investments of municipal funds to the VBS Mutual Bank.
Trollip said ActionSA welcomes the Public Protector's investigation into the complaint we filed on 26 August against former Justice Minister and now hastily appointed Human Settlements Minister,Thembi Simelane,concerning allegations of corrupt transactions linked to the collapse of VBS Bank.
The Public Protector has decided to respond to the ActionSA complaint on Tuesday 03 December 2024 the same day that President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that is redeploying Thembi Nkadimeng to the Ministry of Human Settlements from the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development.
Trollip has welcomed the Public Protector's Office decision to investigates Thembi Simelane-Nkadimeng even though it that office more than three months to respond on their formal complaint which was filed on August 2024.
Trollip is disappointed by the indecisiveness of President Ramaphosa when it comes to the matter of Simelane.
He said three months later,instead of taking decisive action,the President sought to shield Simelane by announcing her transfer to Human Settlements in a late-evening cabinet reshuffle yesterday,a cop out manoeuvre that we believe is a cowardly attempt to deflect accountability from her compromised leadership in the Department of Justice.
Trollip is convinced that nobody must be allowed to serve in the cabinet while is linking to corruption.
He maintained that now the Public Protector has overcome her aversion,having previously indicated that the complaint fell outside the prescribed period.ActionSA remains committed to ensuring that the President's disingenuous and cowardly effort to protect her will ultimately fail.We remain determined that no individual facing allegations of corruption or lacking integrity should be allowed to serve in Cabinet.
He also clarified that there is no scenario in which ActionSA is prepared to endorse the President's abdication of his responsibility as the ultimate guardian of the nation's integrity by merely reshuffling his Cabinet,expecting us to accept that the same person deemed unfit to serve as Justice Minister is now considered fit to lead a critically important portfolio like Human Settlements,overseeing a budget of billions of rands and the responsibility of building desperately needed housing.
He concluded that ActionSA believes that the President should have removed Simelane from Cabinet.