CR slammed for “protecting” Simelane as she is hit with corruption charges

President Cyril Ramaphosa “stumbles through life under the misapprehension that he's not accountable to South Africans for what he does, forgetting who put him there in the first place. South Africans.” This is the charge from Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Advocate Glynnis Breytenbach. She spoke to BizNews after the DA laid charges of corruption against Human Settlements Minister Thembi Simelane for allegedly stealing more than R700 000 by fraudulently billing Eskom when she worked for Vitrovian whose charges to Eskom appear “ridiculously” inflated. Eskom was allegedly invoiced by Vitrovian for work done by employees that did not exist, and Simelane’s signature appears on the very first of these fraudulent invoices. The corruption charges come on top of Simelane’s alleged involvement and subsequent implication in the looting of VBS Bank - after which the President ignored calls to suspend or sack her, and instead just moved her from Justice to Human Settlements. He has also repeatedly refused to disclose the content of Simelane’s report to him on these allegations. Breytenbach believes his continued protection of Simelane raises serious questions on his ability and willingness to root out corruption at the highest level. “There are many ministers in the Cabinet that are less than…salubrious…who should, in all fairness, step aside and not hold those positions,” Breytenbach says.