By Umamah Bakharia

ANC Women’s League president, Bathabile Dlamini has been found guilty of perjury at the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court. Dlamini is accused of lying under oath during a 2017 inquiry into the social grants fiasco at the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa), which saw millions of grant beneficiaries unsure if they would receive their money.

The Constitutional Court then recommended that Dlamini be investigated for perjury.

At the time, she pleaded not guilty to the charges, denied giving false information to the inquiry, and said it was unintentional if she did.

Speaking to Radio Islam, North-West University, Political Analyst Andre Duvenhage says the law has been in favour of certain individuals.

“We have a lot of evidence against senior politicians and senior individuals and the end result is that nothing really [has] happened,” says Duvenhage. He adds that there is no implementation of the conviction of crimes.

Members of the ANC’s RET faction, were in court to support Dlamini. To which Duvenhage argues that the RET has not abided by the law and have made their own rules in politics.

“The RET at the moment within the normal structures of the ANC are the weaker group, the reason for that is that there is no strong leadership or the leadership [is] marginalised in some way,” says Duvenhage.

State prosecutor, Matthews Rampyapedi says that Dlamini’s actions are unforgivable as her transgression happened when she was the head of a department that was tasked with “taking care of the country’s most impoverished and downtrodden.”

However, Duvenhage warns that Dlamini political power might come into play during her sentencing.