South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa fired, on Thursday his social development minister, a leading member of his ANC party, after weeks of mounting corruption claims.
Sisisi Tolashe is the second senior official in weeks to be pushed aside by the president on graft allegations after the national police chief was suspended last month.
The case adds to a slew of corruption scandals eroding public trust in the ANC party, which took power at the end of apartheid in 1994 but has since shed support.
Ramaphosa announced the dismissal of 66-year-old Tolashe, also president of the ANC’s influential Women’s League, in a statement that gave no reasons for the decision.
It followed calls from other parties in the unity government for her removal following media reports of irregularities, which she denies.
Among the claims revealed by the Daily Maverick is that she failed to declare two vehicles donated to the Women’s League by Chinese officials and passed them on to her children.
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Other allegations involve irregularities over appointments in the ministry and claims that a state-funded employee at one of her homes was required to pay half her salary to Tolashe’s daughter.
Her dismissal came hours after the Democratic Alliance — the second-largest party in the unity government — called for her removal and said the ANC “too often protects compromised leaders”.
Claims of corruption against senior ANC officials have been a major black mark against the party which was forced into a unity government after losing its majority in the 2024 general elections.
Local elections in November will be another test of its support.
In July 2025, Ramaphosa suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu, who had been seen as a possible future party leader, after a provincial police chief alleged he colluded with organised crime.
The claims are part of investigations which led Ramaphosa to suspend national police chief Fannie Masemola last month in a scandal that has drawn in other senior officers.
Ramaphosa is himself facing claims of misconduct for hiding from police and tax authorities a 2020 break-in at one of his homes and theft of large sums of foreign currency.
He has denied wrongdoing in the scandal, but parliament is planning impeachment proceedings.
