If current proceedings are anything to go by, then 2022 isn’t shaping out to be Bathabile Dlamini’s year. On 9 March, The former Minister of Social Development listened as Magistrate Betty Khumalo elaborated on how the guilty Dlamini perjured herself, lying under oath in 2017 about her role in the SASSA grant payment crises, overstepping in her position as minister and for not following the proper procedure to ensure grants were paid timeously. If I were the former minister I’d have rushed home to a stiff drink after hearing all that. Turns out old Bathabile likes her truth mixed with a shot of inventiveness and, as you may have suspected, this isn’t her first brush with the law.
In 2006 Dlamini was implicated in the “Travelgate” scandal, in which she was accused of fraud after using air travel vouchers to pay for hotel stays, car travel and other benefits. She pled guilty to R245000 in fraudulent travel claims, thereafter losing her position as a member of parliament. However, a year later in 2007 she was elected to the ANC’s National Executive and National Working Committee.
Fortunately for Bathabile, the dishonest former minister wasn’t alone as Magistrate Khumalo reminded her how she’d been deliberately deceitful to mislead the court five years earlier. There to support the fibber were some faces that would be more at home in orange overalls behind bars, but sadly walk among us thanks to a judiciary sometimes inefficient and other times overrun with cases that never get tended to. As the old adage goes, justice delayed is justice denied. Among those rotten apples were the disgraceful Carl Niehaus, whose mother appears to have been raised from the dead ala Lazarus; the fraudster Tony Yengeni and the new face of corruption Ace Magashule. Magistrate Betty Khumalo is a better person than me. Without a trial and merely for associating with that band of weasels seems reason enough to slam down the gavel and yell guilty. Dlamini will be sentenced on 1 April, also known globally as April Fool’s Day, and I like to think this is no happy coincidence.
The impending sentence also determines whether Bathabile can run for a second term as the ANC Women’s League President. I don’t see why not; another indelible stain against her name would only make her a more fitting candidate for the position. Thankfully, like the mock-genitalia seen on female hyenas, the ANC Women’s League is purposeless and whose existence asks more questions than it answers.
Most surprising of all is that Bathabile was found guilty. The fact that Zuma, Magashule, and about 80 percent of the ANC aren’t serving prison sentences is, in addition to the reasons stated earlier, because the South African judicial system is corrupt, and those aren’t my words. As it happens, court judges also like nice things and will sometimes act as a bulwark between the guilty and prison for the right fee. Or, for the right drink, if you are familiar with that judges favourite post-prandial tipple. That’s right, for as little as a bottle of brandy a magistrate can allegedly be bought and will have a case dismissed. Now, you may be wondering about the constitution that explicitly states that courts are “independent and subject only to the constitution and the law”, but it seems they forgot to include a footnote which stipulates “or the person with a fat wallet and a will of his own to determine the outcome of legal proceedings”.
Come 1 April, will this delinquent receive a fine or will the law make an example of her and put her behind bars where she belongs? Dlamini’s defence team has asked that the court be lenient since she only earns a measly R110 000.00 a month and cannot afford to pay a large sum of money. In the past, she’s paid fines heftier than that with money you and I worked for, and it doesn’t seem to have acted as a deterrent. Either she personally coughs up for the fine or some benefactor pays the money on her behalf, which leaves us back at square one. The alternative to a fine seems more fitting, given her previous conduct; it isn’t easy finding someone who’ll happily take your place in jail. Assuming her fate is a prison sentence, it would be comforting if Magistrate Khumalo offered assurance that whatever drinks bill she runs up during her stay isn’t footed by the South African tax payer.
For those occupying powerful positions within government it will serve as an uncomfortable reminder that they are not above the law, if Dlamini is sentenced to prison. South Africans have lost faith in the judiciary and the legal system has a lot to make up for, considering the vast amounts of corruption that has gone unpunished. And while her incarceration offers only temporary reprieve from her bumbling incompetence, this is of course a doubled-edged sword. A criminal conviction and time in prison only ensures her a more important role in government in the future.
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