South Africa News

Convicted criminal Bathabile Dlamini expected back in court for sentencing

African National Congress (ANC) Women’s League president Bathabile Dlamini is expected to learn her fate in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday morning as sentencing proceedings will resume after her perjury conviction last month.

Dlamini was found guilty of lying under oath during the Ngoepe inquiry into the Sassa grants debacle in 2017 when she claimed that she did not appoint parallel workstreams nor did they report to her instead of Sassa’s executive committee.

The State previously argued for a harsh sentence, citing Dlamini’s previous fraud conviction, which stemmed from the Parliament travel gate scandal.

In March, Magistrate Betty Khumalo found that the State had successfully proven that Dlamini gave false evidence at the Sassa inquiry and found the former minister guilty of perjury.

While her lawyer argued for a lenient sentence, the State said that Dlamini should be handed a hefty fine if the court felt that direct imprisonment was too harsh.

Earlier this week, Dlamini hit back at the ANC’s treasurer-general Paul Mashatile for suggesting that she should resign as the leader of the women’s league and step aside from other responsibilities within the ANC or face a disciplinary commission hearing.

“You cannot have a senior official saying I should resign from the ANC,” Dlamini said.

She said that the party should wait until the completion of the court process, which may be on Friday.

-EWN

In other news – WATCH: Inside Uncle Waffles’ 22nd Birthday celebration

Uncle Waffles hosted a birthday party to mark turning 22-year-old on Wednesday, 30th of March. It was a pinky day for the DJ as her birthday cake was in pink, so also the outfit she rocked for the celebration.

Uncle Waffles

In videos shared on her Instagram stories, she looked super elated, and lots of friends in the industry also celebrated her with beautiful words. Learn More

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