ActionSA MP, Dereleen James, opened a case of corruption against the minister at Cape Town Police Station on Wednesday.
Image: Supplied
ActionSA and the Democratic Alliance (DA) have taken action against Social Development (DSD) Minister Sisisi Tolashe for “deliberately lying” to Parliament to conceal undeclared and undue luxury gifts Tolashe received, reportedly worth a million rand, from Chinese officials.
ActionSA MP, Dereleen James, opened a case of corruption against the minister at Cape Town Police Station on Wednesday, while also announcing that they have submitted a complaint to the Public Protector for breaches of the Executive Members’ Ethics Act, and laid a formal complaint with Parliament’s Ethics Committee for breaches of the Code of Conduct and Disclosure of Members’ Interests.
James said the move comes after Tolashe’s reply to her parliamentary question, which the party claims points to “a blatantly deceitful attempt” to conceal the origin of the vehicles and her alleged benefit from them.
The party further claimed that the minister failed to declare two luxury vehicles received from Chinese officials. The vehicles in question are believed to be two BAIC Beijing X55 SUVs, one white and one yellow, each valued at between R400,000 and R500,000.
Parties have made calls to President Cyril Ramaphosa to take action against Social Development Minister Sisisi Tolashe.
Image: Jairus Mmutle / GCIS
A recent media report alleges that Tolashe not only accepted the gifts but also gave them to her two children to use in their personal capacity, with vehicle registrations reflecting a clear change of ownership to the Tolashe siblings.
The DA added that this is a clear violation of the Executive Ethics Code if Minister Tolashe has not made a request for presidential permission to accept and retain the gifts in question.
James also said that even if the vehicles were indeed donated to the ANC, the contribution should have been declared to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), as required by law.
She said there are plans to take additional steps, including formally requesting that President Cyril Ramaphosa dismiss Tolashe.
“This minister has blatantly lied to Parliament. In December, we posed a question to the minister about the possible gifting of two vehicles. The minister blatantly failed to answer my question in December.
“Now we know where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” James said. “In February, again, we posed the same question. Believe it or not, the minister lies. Without even blinking, she says that these were gifts to the ANC Women's League.”
James explained that a recent media report showed that both these vehicles were gifted to the minister, and are allegedly registered in her children's name - the one in her son's name, and the one in her daughter's name.
“Now, what raises suspicion here is the fact that the minister did not declare any of these vehicles. If it is indeed under the ANC. We actually have a printout here this morning, a list of donations and contributions for the fourth quarter. There’s nothing here. The minister has a lot to answer for,” James said.
“We've called on the president to fire the minister. We are also gonna take this matter further with the ethics committee. We're going to lodge a complaint there as well.”
ActionSA said the acceptance of high-value “gifts” from a foreign government—particularly where those assets are concealed through family members—raises grave concerns about corruption, undue influence, and abuse of public office.
“This is a textbook example of how public power can be abused for private gain.”
The DA spokesperson on Social Development, Nazley Sharif, said that they have written to President Cyril Ramaphosa to determine whether Tolashe requested presidential permission to accept and retain a gift of two Chinese luxury SUVs in 2024.
“The DA has also written to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development to request Minister Tolashe to account to Parliament on the chaos that has become a hallmark of the Department of Social Development under her watch. Urgent oversight and accountability are desperately needed.
“Given that the gifts in question far exceed the value threshold stipulated by the ethics code, and in light of preliminary investigations which have now revealed that Minister Tolashe has seemingly retained these gifts and given them to her children, it is now a matter of public interest to determine whether President Ramaphosa, or the Office of the Presidency, received the necessary request from Minister Tolashe to accept and retain them,” Sharif said.
A spokesperson for DSD, Sandy Godlwana, acknowledged the request for comment and said that the department will be issuing a statement soon.
“We are aware of the negative media circulating regarding the minister, and of course, the case that has been opened by ActionSA member of Parliament, Dereleen James. For now, as a department, we are in the process of finalising a statement that we will be sharing soon.”
theolin.tembo@inl.co.za