OPPOSITION parties have opened a criminal corruption case and filed multiple formal ethics complaints against Social Development Minister Sisisi Tolashe, calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa to fire her immediately after evidence emerged that she misled Parliament about the fate of two luxury SUVs received from Chinese officials.
ActionSA MP Dereleen James announced on Wednesday that the party had opened the corruption case at a South African Police Service station, lodged a complaint with the Public Protector alleging breaches of the Executive Members’ Ethics Act, and submitted a formal complaint to Parliament’s Ethics Committee for violations of the Code of Conduct and the rules governing the disclosure of members’ interests.
The Democratic Alliance separately filed its own complaint with Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka, alleging that Tolashe breached both the Executive Ethics Code and the Public Service Act in her management of the Department of Social Development.
“ActionSA has requested that President Ramaphosa immediately fire Social Development Minister Sisisi Tolashe for blatantly lying to Parliament and engaging in an elaborate cover-up,” James said. “ActionSA believes that the minister’s actions, which may well carry criminal implications, are simply unacceptable and warrant her immediate dismissal. If the President has any regard for the institution his appointed minister has so clearly disrespected, he must act without delay.”
The Presidency had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication. Tolashe’s office also did not respond.
The scandal centres on two BAIC Beijing X55 SUVs – one white, one yellow – valued at approximately R500,000 each, received from officials linked to the Chinese government. Photographs of the vehicles began circulating last year, prompting ActionSA to submit a parliamentary question to Tolashe in December 2025, asking what had become of them.
Tolashe initially ignored the question, in breach of parliamentary rules requiring Cabinet ministers to respond within ten working days. When James resubmitted the question after Parliament resumed in 2026, Tolashe replied on 12 February that she had not personally received the vehicles. She stated they had been “donated to the ANC Women’s League,” and that there had therefore been no obligation to declare them.
“The vehicles were donated to the ANC Women’s League. There was therefore no need to declare or record them in the official register.”
Minister Tolashe, parliamentary reply, February 2026
The ANC and the ANCWL have both denied knowledge of any such donation. No declaration of the vehicles to the Electoral Commission of South Africa — a legal requirement for any party donation above the prescribed threshold — appears to have been made.
A Daily Maverick investigation subsequently traced the vehicles through the South African National Traffic Information System. Records showed that on 15 April 2024, ownership of the white SUV was registered in the name of Nanilethu Tolashe – the minister’s son – and the yellow SUV in the name of Kanyisa Tolashe, the minister’s daughter.
Kanyisa Tolashe sold her vehicle through the online marketplace Weelee on 28 October 2025 – in the weeks immediately following the first of the Daily Maverick’s investigative series into the department. The white SUV remained registered to the minister’s son at the time of publication.
The car controversy is compounded by a separate and well-documented instance in which Tolashe acted unlawfully, drawing a written rebuke from President Ramaphosa himself.
In early 2026, Tolashe advertised the post of Director-General for Social Development and initiated disciplinary proceedings against outgoing DG Peter Netshipale — both without the presidential delegation required by law under the Public Service Act. Under that legislation, the President is solely responsible for the career incidents of directors-general, and any ministerial action requires explicit delegation.
Ramaphosa wrote to Tolashe stating that both the recruitment process and the disciplinary steps “require my delegation in terms of section 12(1)(a) read with section 42A(3) of the PSA. Failure to follow the correct process may lead to procedural flaws, which may be challenged.”
The DG vacancy advertisement, published in the Public Service Vacancy Circular on 30 January 2026, was subsequently withdrawn. An acting DG was appointed.
But Tolashe retained her Cabinet post.
DA MP Nazley Sharif said those events must be read alongside the car scandal and a pattern of misleading statements to Parliament. “Taken together, these issues point to a pattern of conduct that raises serious questions about the minister’s fitness to hold office,” Sharif said.
The current charges arrive after an extended period of scrutiny for Tolashe’s department. In August 2025, reports revealed that the department spent more than R3 million on a delegation to a United Nations conference in New York, with officials staying at one of Manhattan’s most expensive hotels.
Days later, department spokesperson Lumka Oliphant was suspended – a move Oliphant described as retaliation for being accused of leaking the story to the media.
The Daily Maverick then exposed the appointment of a 22-year-old woman, Lesedi Mabiletja – the niece of the minister’s special adviser, Ngwako Kgatla – as Tolashe’s Chief of Staff. Mabiletja’s sole qualification was a part-time information technology diploma. The position carries an annual salary of close to R1.4 million. Mabiletja resigned in January 2026 after being placed on paid suspension, without facing a disciplinary hearing.
Separately, the DA had already filed an earlier ethics complaint accusing Tolashe of misleading Parliament about the contract term of Netshipale’s appointment. When the DA’s Alexandra Abrahams asked Tolashe in May 2025 what the contract duration was, the minister replied that it was five years. Cabinet minutes dated March 2025 show the appointment was approved for one year only.
Tolashe’s survival in Cabinet thus far is widely attributed to her political standing. She serves as President of the ANC Women’s League, a position that carries substantial factional weight within ANC internal structures.
Her position is being compared directly to recent precedents. Former Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabane was dismissed after a single incident of mishandling appointments. Police Minister Senzo Mchunu was placed on special leave following controversy over his disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team.
ActionSA’s James drew the comparison explicitly: “If the President has any regard for the institution his appointed minister has so clearly disrespected, he must act without delay.”
“Minister Tolashe has brought Parliament and the Department of Social Development into disrepute and is not fit to hold her position.”
DA MP Nazley Sharif, April 2026
The Department of Social Development administers a budget of R294 billion and is responsible for the payment of social grants to millions of South Africans living below the poverty line. Opposition parties have argued that the sustained leadership crisis in the department has a direct and measurable impact on service delivery to the country’s most vulnerable citizens.
The criminal corruption case, the two Public Protector complaints, and the Ethics Committee complaint are now active. South Africa’s 2026 local government elections loom. The President has yet to speak.
