Bathabile Dlamini spits Twitter fire after pension block

A multimillion-rand irregular and wasteful security contract is at the centre of a growing row between ANC Women’s League president Bathabile Dlamini, the Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu and Sassa CEO Busisiwe “Totsie” Memela.

The Sunday Times reported that Dlamini’s pension has been blocked as part of a civil claim by Sassa for a refund of R4-million for a security contract to cover security protection for Dlamini and spokesperson Lumka Oliphant.   

Oliphant has written to Zulu asking for clarity about her pension and insists that the minister step in to confirm that the Department approved the security in 2013 and that her government pension has not been attached. Oliphant is chief director of communications in the department.

Dlamini’s pension has been blocked and she is angry. On Monday, 1 March, she issued a Twitter fusillade.  “Should anything happen to me, you people who go round making noise that you were mentored, meanwhile you are cruel, selling out. Tell then where my pension is. I want it cause I can’t trade bloody diamonds. What are you doing? Here is a job looking at you,” she tweeted first.  Then, she followed up: “It can’t be that women are continuously used to perform the cruel job of men. They should keep their cruelty amongst themselves, not use women.” 

Dlamini did not respond to a Daily Maverick request for comment, but it’s clear her anger is targeted either at Zulu or Memela. Memela inherited a tough terrain at Sassa, the grant payer.  Numerous court judgments effectively put Sassa under court curatorship in the course of extricating itself from the Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) contract and the pension block is part of her clean-up.

Last year, Sassa brought a civil claim for the refund against former Sassa CEO Virginia Petersen who signed off on the private security contract for Dlamini and Oliphant. Dlamini and Oliphant are co-respondents to the claim as contract beneficiaries.