Scandal seems to be second nature to the department of social development, which administers a budget of R294bn and is responsible for the welfare of millions of indigent South Africans. The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa), a departmental entity, disbursed R267bn for the year ending March 2025, supporting about 45% of the country’s population. An efficient department is therefore vital to the livelihoods of millions.
One might have thought that after the inglorious reign of Bathabile Dlamini —whose low points included an invalid R10bn contract in 2014 and the 2017 grant payment crisis — that the department would make a special effort to clean up its act and ensure it ran a tight ship. This does not appear to be the case, however, with the department under minister Sisisi Tolashe in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
According to the auditor-general (AG), the department and Sassa have shown little improvement in audit outcomes this year when compared with previous ones, with the department itself receiving a qualified audit with opinions. The AG noted a lack of “swift action to address the prior year’s audit findings” and concluded that “the management of grants within Sassa and the department remains a significant challenge”.
This week, the minister was back in parliament, with an extravagant junket to New York on the agenda. With a cost to taxpayers of about R3m, seven officials from the department attended the UN Commission on the Status of Women, sparking a public outcry when details of the lavish spending were first reported in this newspaper. Director-general Peter Netshipale assured MPs the trip was money well spent but conceded the size of future delegations would be trimmed to save expenses. He blamed “late bookings” and the rand-dollar exchange rate for the ballooning costs.
As has become customary with the presidency of Cyril Ramaphosa, ministers and their departments seem to be fiefdoms unto themselves
Adding to the sense of extravagance and impunity has been the appointment of Lesedi Mabiletja, an unqualified 22-year-old as chief of staff. There have been rumours, supported by WhatsApp messages, that there is a romantic relationship between the 65-year-old minister and her 32-year-old adviser, Ngwako Kgatla, who is said to be Mabiletja’s uncle.
That Mabiletja was not qualified for the post is beyond dispute, but that did not stop Kgatla forwarding her CV to now-suspended chief of staff Zanele Simmons, who is accused of falsifying the CV and has since been dismissed by the department. Simmons is suing the minister and the DG to get her job back, claiming she was made a scapegoat for factional battles in the department.
As has become customary with the presidency of Cyril Ramaphosa, ministers and their departments seem to be fiefdoms unto themselves, with little or no guidance, correction or discipline from the west wing of the Union Buildings. Ramaphosa’s ministers conduct themselves as they wish, with ministers such as former justice minister Thembi Simelane merely being shunted into new roles when their scandals catch up with them.
Presumably, it will be asking too much of the president to crack the whip and instil a stronger sense of public purpose in his ministers, but striving towards and accomplishing cleaner audits would be a first vital step. It is up to watchdogs such as parliament, the AG and the media to do this. Even if the minister has allowed a personal relationship with her adviser to cloud her judgment, the odds are she will survive. But that does not stop us highlighting the disgrace this department has become, in the hope that someone in power has the courage to change it.
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