Former social development minister Bathabile Dlamini is defying a Constitutional Court order to pay part of the legal costs two NGOs won in a landmark social grants case against her in 2018, saying her ministerial pension is being blocked.
Attempts by the sheriff of the court to locate Dlamini at two of her properties have failed, and she has changed lawyers, making it more difficult to pin her down.
"How am I supposed to pay the money when my pension is withheld?" Dlamini told the Sunday Times this week.
"Yes, my pension is withheld. I have no idea why this is the case. I was informed by my broker who was instructed by the state adviser not to give me my money. When I asked to say, please fast-track this thing, the broker got a letter saying it was being held.
"I decided not to take it up with the courts because I know that by the time the matter is concluded, the pension money itself would have depleted [by legal fees]."
Even though parliament has confirmed that Dlamini received a loss-of-office gratuity payment when she quit in 2019, she said this week she can't pay the amounts she owes to the NGOs that brought the successful court action - R55,000 to the Black Sash and about R600,000 to Freedom Under Law.
She is the latest top politician to defy SA's top court, following the lead of former president Jacob Zuma, who is refusing to obey a Constitutional Court order to appear before the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture, claiming the commission's chair, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, is biased against him.
Dlamini told the Sunday Times she was informed that the state had decided to withhold her pension after her resignation from parliament in 2019 when she did not make it into President Cyril Ramaphosa's cabinet.
The Sunday Times has seen an e-mail from a senior administrator from Alexander Forbes, distributed internally to three other senior administrators and dated August 2019, supporting Dlamini's claim.
"Good morning. Claim for Dlamini BO has been placed on hold as instructed by Employer. Kind regards," reads the e-mail.
The Political Office-Bearers Pension Fund said it is dealing with Dlamini's matter and declined to comment further.
A furious Dlamini said she fails to understand what led to the decision to withhold her pension because she has not been under any investigation.
"The court order does not say a thing about my pension. To me it seems like people are using state institutions to squeeze us. When someone does that, they are nearly done with you."
Dlamini is president of the ANC Women's League, and Luthuli House insiders said since she lost her cabinet post she has been employed at Luthuli House and draws a salary.
The loss-of-office gratuity payment Dlamini received when she left parliament is paid to non-returning political office bearers, and is the equivalent of four months' pensionable salary for every five years of service.
Dlamini served in parliament from 2009 to 2019 and earned a monthly salary of about R205,000.
The gratuity is paid out by parliament to its non-returning members, over and above their pension benefits from the Political Office-Bearers Pension Fund.
Parliament's spokesperson, Moloto Mothapo, on Friday said Dlamini had been promptly paid her loss-of-office gratuity, along with other former ministers, in 2019.
"All members of parliament receive their loss-of-office gratuity within two to three weeks of leaving parliament, as per standard practice," he said.
But this week Dlamini pleaded poverty.
"It has not been easy," she said.
"You can imagine what it's like working for so many years only for your pension to be held," she said. "When someone does that they are punishing you. There is no greater punishment because you suffer for the rest of your life."
On the instruction of the Black Sash and Freedom Under Law, the sheriff has visited two properties that are in Dlamini's name - but she was nowhere to be found.
The NGOs have vowed not to give up.
Michelle Rawlinson of Freedom Under Law said their attempts to reach Dlamini had so far failed.
In one instance my kids were called and threatened with death.
— Bathabile Dlamini
"At this stage we have not been able to recover the legal costs from her but we certainly do still intend to do that. There have been a number of difficulties in trying to recover the funds. Covid-19 is partially to blame and we have had dealings with her attorneys but that wasn't fruitful either," said Rawlinson.
"The sheriff was sent to properties she owns. She wasn't at either of them. Sending the sheriff repeatedly also doesn't help. The fact that she's changed lawyers as well also does make things a little bit challenging, but we do intend to follow up on that."
Black Sash national director Lynette Maart confirmed that Dlamini had failed to settle the legal bill.
"The Black Sash was represented by the Centre for Applied Legal Studies [Cals] and can only account for what was paid to Cals. The bill was taxed at R276,453.91 in 2020. Sassa [the South African Social Security Agency, which Dlamini oversaw as social development minister] paid in full its 80% share of the legal costs to Cals, set at the amount of R221,163.12.
"There is, however, a challenge with recovering the legal costs from [Dlamini]. She is expected to pay 20% of the legal costs, valued at R55,290.78. The Black Sash, through Cals, will continue to pursue this matter until the outstanding legal fees are paid in full," said Maart.
Dlamini confirmed that a sheriff had on more than one occasion visited her home.
"A lot has been done. My homestead in Nkandla, they went there, they found nothing because they thought I have a huge house there. They went to see my house in Pietermaritzburg, they went to see my parents' house, something I will never understand because my parents worked for their house."
Dlamini said her family had enjoyed no peace since the Sassa debacle.
"In one instance my kids were called and threatened with death," she said.
"There are many things that have happened, but we are not crybabies, we can fight some of them, but some of them we choose not to."
The legal fees at issue relate to a case involving a tender to pay out social grants granted to Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) that had expired - but was renewed repeatedly. Dlamini was accused of failing to make sure Sassa was capacitated to pay out social grants after the contract with CPS expired.
The court ordered that the former minister, Sassa and its CEO pay 80% of the legal costs in their official capacity. It ruled that Dlamini was liable for 20% of the bill in her personal capacity.
In addition to issuing a personal costs order against Dlamini, the court instructed the National Prosecuting Authority to establish whether Dlamini should face a charge of perjury.
The NPA is considering whether to charge Dlamini for allegedly lying under oath to a section 39 inquiry chaired by judge Bernard Ngoepe.
NPA spokesperson Sipho Ngwema confirmed that prosecutors had received a docket related to Dlamini's case but no decision had been taken on whether to prosecute or not.
On Friday Dlamini was spotted outside the Bloemfontein magistrate's court, where ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule made his second appearance on corruption charges.
The Sunday Times understands that Dlamini raised the issue of her pension payout at a recent ANC national executive committee meeting, where she insinuated that the matter was "political".
- Additional reporting by Thabo Mokone
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