By: Natasha Archary
Former Minister of Women in the Presidency, Bathabile Dlamini was found guilty of perjury.
This after the Johannesburg Magistrates Court found her guilty of lying under oath.
Dlamini was convicted on Wednesday for lying about the 2017 SASSA social grants.
According to Magistrate Bheki Khumalo, Bathabile Dlamini committed perjury in a written statement, giving false evidence.
The National Prosecuting Authority is now calling for Dlamini to be jailed or given a hefty fine.
Dlamini will be sentenced on 1 April.
Her lawyer, advocate Tshepiso Mphalane argued that Dlamini could not afford a hefty fine because she was a single mother who only earned R110 000 a month.
The amount includes R40 000 in pension from Parliament as a former MP and R70 000 a month from the ANC Woman’s League.
However, Mphalane said the R70 000 was attached to a position Dlamini would be leaving, so the court should consider her means is just R40 000.
Dlamini was implicated in the 2013 contract with Cash Paymaster Services which was extended despite the contract being invalid.
At the time Dlamini was Minister of Social Development.
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