Daggers are out for Thembi Simelane, minister of justice, after ActionSA laid criminal charges on Tuesday. [Picture: @GovernmentZA/X]
ActionSA has laid criminal charges against embattled justice minister Thembi Simelane. The charges relate to the dubious ‘loan’ she received from VBS-linked Gundo Wealth Solutions while mayor of Polokwane.
Malebo Kobe, MP, accused Simelane of violating the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (PRECCA), as well as of committing forgery. She laid charges at the Polokwane Police Station on Tuesday.
“We are laying criminal charges because we have reason to believe that she is in violation of the PRECCA Act and also looking at common law forgery because we have reason to believe that with the recent document that has emerged that it might have been forged,” she told Newzroom Afrika moments before laying the charges.
Simelane has insisted that the R575 600 she received from GWS, to buy Silvana’s Coffee Shop in Sandton, was a loan. However, Daily Maverick now reports that the ‘loan agreement’ document was drafted after it was purportedly signed.
In a statement following the charges, ActionSA’s parliamentary leader Athol Trollip said: “In the absence of any appetite for commensurate action from the President, Public Protector, and the Speaker, ActionSA has been forced to embark on yet another step in our ongoing fight to ensure that the Minister is held accountable”.
