The ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) has come out to express its support for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s appointment of its disgraced deputy secretary-general, Dina Pule, back into the Cabinet, 13 years after then-president Jacob Zuma fired her.
The league has been quiet for three days as criticism grew against its deputy secretary-general’s appointment as the new Social Development minister, replacing Sisisi Tolashe, whom Ramaphosa fired for perjury.
The league removed Tolashe as its president following allegations of improper hiring practices, falsification of qualifications, unauthorised extension of a former director-general’s contract, and using departmental household assistants for personal labour.
Zuma dismissed Pule from her position as Communications minister in 2013 after then-Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found that she had persistently lied and acted unethically
Her unethical conduct stemmed from her denial of having a romantic relationship with Phosane Mngqibisa, whom she improperly benefited from using spousal privileges.
Pule later admitted to the relationship with Mngqibisa, leading to Parliament reprimanding her for violating her oath of office and bringing Parliament into disrepute.
However, in a surprising move, Ramaphosa announced her as one of seven new ministers and deputy ministers during the reshuffle on Tuesday.
In a statement released on Friday, ANCWL Secretary-General Nokuthula Nqaba commended Pule’s appointment to head the department.
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Nqaba said Pule, as an ANCWL senior leader, is better placed to understand the plight of the country’s most vulnerable citizens, whose livelihoods depend on the department.
“The Women’s League is confident that Comrade Dina Pule will continue the struggle to provide much-needed support to vulnerable individuals and families by ensuring access to basic needs, healthcare, and social welfare services to the masses of our people,” said Nqaba.
The league defended ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula’s endorsement against critics of Pule’s appointment, which it said is the ANC’s commitment to promoting gender equality and empowering women to occupy influential positions.
“We have confidence in her exceptional leadership abilities and acumen. Her wealth of experience in governance, garnered from her tenure as a former Cabinet minister, and her current role as chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, makes her an exemplary candidate for this position,” read the statement.
Nqaba said the league is convinced that Pule will make a meaningful contribution to the country’s social development.
“And we pledge our full support to her in this endeavour,” she said.
In a media briefing on Thursday, Mbalula said that the ANC recognised the public concern about Pule’s appointment, but believed she had already accounted for her past misconduct.
“We do not dismiss the concern this appointment has stirred, and we understand where it comes from,” Mbalula said.
He said Pule had accepted the consequences of her actions more than a decade ago, stepped away from public office, and spent years rebuilding confidence within the organisation.
“The people of South Africa do not hand down life sentences, least of all where there has been accountability, redress, and correction.”
Mbalula said Pule had voluntarily stepped aside, remained out of leadership structures for years, undergone counselling and guidance from senior ANC veterans, and later earned election to the ANC’s National Executive Committee before returning to Parliament.
“A person who has answered for a sanction and rebuilt trust through the free choice of her peers and the electorate should not be condemned in perpetuity.”
He added that the ANC believed Pule had shown genuine remorse and had undergone a process of rehabilitation.
However, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation said the appointment was inconsistent with the government’s commitment to ethical leadership.
The foundation said it viewed Pule’s appointment “with absolute dismay”, arguing that South Africa could not build “a capable, ethical, and developmental state by recycling individuals whose public records are severely tarnished by corruption, nepotism, and dishonesty”.
It also called on Ramaphosa to explain how appointing Pule aligned with his commitment to clean governance.
University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) political analyst Sakhile Hadebe said Pule has an undeniably controversial record of unethical conduct, conflicts of interest, and misleading Parliament concerning matters linked to her personal relationship.
“Those findings have remained part of her public political profile. However, it is equally important to recognise that democratic systems generally distinguish between legal disqualification and political controversy.
“Unless someone is legally prohibited from holding office, the president retains the constitutional discretion to appoint them.
“The real issue, therefore, is not whether she can legally serve, but whether her appointment strengthens public confidence in government,” said Hadebe.
Another UKZN political analyst, Zakhele Ndlovu, said Pule’s support was a sign that the ANC had completely lost the plot.
“This is one of the things Ramaphosa would be remembered for – a hypocrite who claimed to be someone who came to fix the mess of the nine wasted years.
“This is not only the recycling of ANC dinosaurs, but this further normalises the habit of the ANC to reward wrongdoing and corruption in government,” said Ndlovu.
Corruption Watch (CW) also criticised Ramaphosa’s decision, saying Pule’s appointment does not invite confidence.
“The appointment places a politician with a well-documented record of ethical misconduct at the helm of a department that administers social grants for some 28 million South Africans and manages one of the government’s largest budgets.
“It is a slap in the face of everyone advocating for just and accountable governance for the president to choose someone who had been embroiled in corruption at the last ministry she headed to be the new minister for Social Development.
“It seems as if this department has been identified as the dumping place for the ANC Women’s League, whose leaders have not advanced gender equity and have all had small skeletons lurking in their closets,” said CW Executive Director Lebogang Ramafoko.
