Chinese SUV to drive Tolashe out of cabinet

The ANC’s integrity commission has completed a draft report recommending that Sisisi Tolashe be fired from her cushy job as Minister of Social Development over the controversial handling of luxury vehicles donated by Chinese officials.

The report has also allegedly recommended that Tolashe be removed from her position as president of the ANC Women’s League.

According to highly placed sources within the African National Congress, the draft report compiled by the party’s integrity commission, chaired by veteran cleric and ANC elder Frank Chikane, has already been finalised but cannot yet be formally processed until Tolashe first presents her explanation to the ANC’s so-called “Top Seven” leadership structure.

The sources said the ANC leadership separately demanded answers from Tolashe over the saga involving two luxury Chinese-made SUVs, which were allegedly intended for the ANC Women’s League but later registered in the names of her children.

“The report is done. The integrity committee has reached its conclusions, but procedurally they are waiting for her explanation to the Top Seven before releasing the findings,” said one insider familiar with the process.

The scandal erupted publicly in April after reports emerged that two high-end BAIC sport utility vehicles donated during engagements involving Chinese representatives and the ANC Women’s League had not been registered in the league’s name.

Instead, Tolashe allegedly arranged for the vehicles to be registered under family members, triggering claims of abuse of office, improper benefit and possible violations of ANC ethical standards.

In her defence to the ANC integrity commission, Tolashe allegedly argued that the vehicles were being “safeguarded” from possible attachment by creditors because the ANC and its leagues were facing severe financial distress.

It is alleged that she told the integrity commission that registering the vehicles directly under the ANC Women’s League could have exposed them to seizure amid ongoing financial pressures facing ANC structures.

The matter has become politically explosive because it touches directly on the ANC’s long-running promises around ethical renewal and internal accountability under party president Cyril Ramaphosa.

The ANC integrity commission itself occupies a unique but often controversial position inside the governing party. Established to enforce organisational ethics and restore public confidence after years of corruption scandals linked to the era of former president Jacob Zuma, the commission has increasingly been used as a moral pressure mechanism against leaders accused of bringing the organisation into disrepute.

Although the commission does not possess direct disciplinary powers, its recommendations carry enormous political weight because they are often escalated to the ANC national executive committee, which can recommend resignations, suspensions or recalls.

The Tolashe matter is also awkward for the ANC because it comes at a time when the party has repeatedly attempted to portray itself as committed to ethical governance after suffering severe electoral losses in the 2024 general election.

Tolashe, a long-serving ANC figure from the Eastern Cape, currently serves as both Minister of Social Development and president of the ANC Women’s League after defeating former league president Bathabile Dlamini for the position in 2023.

Tolashe declined to comment and referred Africa Daily to ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu.

Bhengu said she will only comment after the report has been tabled before the ANC’s national executive committee, which is billed to meet in Cape Town today.