DA threatens to lay criminal charges against Deputy President Paul Mashatile

DA threatens to lay criminal charges against Deputy President Paul Mashatile over corruption allegations

By: Natasha Archary

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has threatened to lay criminal charges against Deputy President Paul Mashatile over corruption allegations.

On Friday, 02 February DA leader John Steenhuisen attempted to hand over a dossier to President Cyril Ramaphosa which contains “damning allegations” of corruption levelled against his second in command.

Briefing media outside the Union Buildings, Steenhuisen said he was ordered to hand over the dossier to police, and says if the President does not heed calls to remove Mashatile from office at this year’s State Of the Nation Address (SONA), the DA will lay criminal charges and file an Executive Members’ Ethics Act complaint against Mashatile.

The DA alleges that while serving as MEC for human settlements, Mashatile’s department paid R134 million to a company owned by embattled businessman Edwin Sodi.

According to the DA, the housing project set for Diepsloot did not deliver a single house.

“Given that President Ramaphosa has, to this day, failed to act against Mashatile by firing him from his executive post and subjecting him to a thorough investigation by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), it is clear that President Ramaphosa has absolutely no will to address this scandal within his government.

Over the past few months, a series of explosive exposés have been published by numerous investigative journalists outlining, in granular detail, the extent to which Paul Mashatile engaged in a web of corruption and state capture spanning almost two decades – behaviour that has become commonplace under the ANC.

These would constitute clear violations of the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act, the Public Finance Management Act, and the Executive Members’ Ethics Act. With this dossier now in hand, President Ramaphosa can no longer claim ignorance that his ‘Number Two’ is heading a state capture scheme the likes of which was last seen under Jacob Zuma.

Had President Ramaphosa carried out the lifestyle audits of his executive, as promised in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the beginning of his term, all of these alleged corrupt dealings would have come to light across his cabinet. Five years later, the South African national executive is still comprised of numerous ministers facing severe allegations of corruption, with Paul Mashatile now the single most compromised. Yet another broken promise from a bystander president for which there have been no consequences.”

With the opening of parliament scheduled for the coming week, the DA says it has now provided President Ramaphosa will all the information necessary to remove Paul Mashatile from Executive Office.

Should the President fail to announce the removal of Mashatile from his cabinet at SONA, the DA will:

We will lay criminal charges against Paul Mashatile, using the information collated in the dossier of which President Ramaphosa is now in possession, to make the case for Mashatile’s immediate investigation and prosecution; and
We will file an Executive Members’ Ethics Act complaint against Mashatile for his violation of the Executive Ethics Code.

The DA has handed over a corruption dossier levelled against the Deputy President, to the Office of the President. If the President fails to announce Mashatile’s removal at SONA, we will lay criminal charges and file an Executive Members’ Ethics Act complaint against Mashatile. pic.twitter.com/6iZsWhIuEe
— John Steenhuisen MP (@jsteenhuisen) February 2, 2024