The ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) has admitted that the Chinese SUV scandal involving its disgraced president, Sisisi Tolashe, has damaged both its reputation and the image of its mother body, the ANC.
The league made the admission in a report compiled by its National Executive Committee (NEC) after the scandal broke.
The report was sent to the ANC for guidance on how to deal with the controversy, which has sent shockwaves across the country and the political landscape.
The confidential report, presented to ANC officials on May 8, 2026, stated that the NEC noted the matter did “not only have adverse implications on the standing of our president but also the good repute of our organisation.”
The report, which Africa Daily has seen, begins by painting a picture of how embarrassed and apologetic Tolashe was when she was grilled about the “Motorgate” scandal.
When confronted by ANCWL national officials, Tolashe admitted the SUVs “were meant for the ANC Women’s League” but that she had “handed them over to her own children.” She “profusely apologised” and committed to returning both vehicles.
The league’s NEC presentation noted that the matter did “not only have adverse implications on the standing of our president but also the good repute of our organisation.”
The report further explained that on Saturday, April 25, the ANCWL’s National Working Committee (NWC) convened at the Birchwood Hotel in Ekurhuleni.
Tolashe recused herself from the meeting. The NWC accepted her apology but resolved only to “await these processes”, a holding position that bought the embattled president little more than breathing room.
The following day, Sunday, April 26, the NEC sat in what its own report described as “the longest NEC meeting since the election into office of the current leadership of the ANCWL, slightly emotional but thoroughly examined the facts.”
Members “deliberated without fear, favour or prejudice,” the report states. The apology was accepted, but nothing was resolved.
The league then wrote to the ANC, humbly asking that “the ANC SG and the NWC advise on how to navigate this matter.”
The report acknowledged that the league was “intimately familiar with the implications of this matter as it relates to the reputation of not only the ANC Women’s League but also our liberation movement.”
Africa Daily has learnt that Tolashe’s scandal has exposed long-simmering tensions and divisions within the league.
The divisions were reflected in the terse statement the league issued after Tolashe’s dismissal from her ministerial position.
When Cyril Ramaphosa removed her from Cabinet, the ANCWL used the intervention as its exit ramp. Its statement immediately pivoted to Tolashe’s replacement, Sindisiwe Chikunga, welcoming her appointment “to ensure that the department continues to be politically led, ensuring the service of the most vulnerable citizens of our country is met without disruption.”
The league noted that the department serves “the most marginalised, who are in their majority women of our country”, an implicit rebuke of the woman who had led it.
The ANCWL further cited Section 91(2) of the Constitution, affirming the president’s power to dismiss ministers, as though reminding its own membership that there was nothing left to debate.
ANCWL secretary-general Nokuthula Nqaba signed both the public press release and the confidential internal report. In doing so, she embodied the league’s carefully managed pivot: honesty in the boardroom, silence in public.
Insiders say the organisation is already lobbying for Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane, chairperson of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), to be appointed as permanent minister, signalling that the move away from Tolashe is not merely rhetorical.
Despite losing her ministerial post, Tolashe remains ANCWL president — for now.
Tolashe had not publicly responded to her dismissal at the time of publication.
The SUV scandal was not the only fault line. Insiders say the organisation had been quietly tearing at the seams long before Tolashe’s vehicles became public knowledge.
“Before the allegations against Tolashe surfaced, some members were already refusing to support the treasurer, Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae, over separate corruption allegations in the Free State. That division was already there. And the president and the secretary-general were not on the same page on several issues,” said a source with direct knowledge of the internal discussions.
When the SUV scandal broke, it deepened the divisions even further.
“There were members calling for her head. That’s why the NEC couldn’t agree on what to do and referred the matter to the ANC,” the source added.
