Another party lays criminal charges against Tolashe over Chinese car donations
· Citizen
The DA has laid criminal charges against controversial Social Development Minister Sisisi Tolashe for failing to declare two cars she received from Chinese officials.
According to reports, the two BAIC X55 SUVs (one white, one yellow) are valued at around R400 000 to R500 000 each and were intended as donations to the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL). However, they were registered under Tolashe’s children’s names, with one reportedly sold. The ANCWL has also denied knowledge of these cars.
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On Thursday, several DA parliamentarians laid charges against Tolashe at the Cape Town police station. Last week ActionSA also laid charges against Tolashe.
DA spokesperson, Jan de Villiers, described this as an unjustifiable scandal.
Two scenarios
For the DA, two scenarios are at play: either the vehicles were donated to the minister personally, and she failed to disclose this donation to Parliament and subsequently lied to Parliament about the alleged non-disclosure or the vehicles were donated to the ANCWL, and the minister fraudulently registered these vehicles in the names of her children to shield the assets from attachment by creditors of the ANC.
The Sunday Times recently reported that Tolashe met with the ANC’s integrity commission and that she failed to provide a plausible explanation for why the cars were registered in her children’s names. She allegedly claimed she was preserving the cars for the ANCWL.
“We have provided the Saps with sufficient evidence that warrants investigation,” said De Villiers.
“Any attempt to deceive Parliament or manipulate creditors for personal or improper gain represents a direct assault on the rule of law. Public office bearers must be held to the highest ethical and legal standards, and any breach of these standards must face consequences.”
Charges laid against Tolashe
According to De Villiers, the specific charges are:
- Lying to parliament: potential offence of fraud and potential statutory offence under Section 27 of the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliaments and Provincial Legislatures Act 4 of 2004.
- Fraudulent registration of vehicles: potential statutory offence under sections 4; 89 and regulation 3 of the National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996 and the potential offence of theft.
“The DA has already acted against Tolashe, including filing an Ethics Committee complaint over allegedly misleading Parliament about the appointment of her director-general, and a Public Protector complaint involving the same official.
“We also wrote to the president to clarify whether the minister obtained the required approval to accept and retain two luxury motor cars.
“We will also ask questions about whether the cars were sold and where the money is,” he said.
De Villiers said Tolashe will have to account for the cars to Parliament in the course of a full inquiry and to investigating authorities.
“We demand a full and independent investigation so that the full might of the law is brought to bear,” he said.
Controversial minister
Tolashe is no stranger to controversy.
She has been in the media for allegedly dating a junior official in her office, she had a public spat with the former spokesperson of her department Lumka Oliphant, and has been accused of abusing state funds, among other issues.