ActionSA wants Public Protector to investigate Simelane over VBS-linked loan

JOHANNESBURG - ActionSA says it wants to know if Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka is investigating Justice Minister Thembi Simelane over her VBS-linked loan.

Simelane has come under fire over an R500,000 loan from a company linked to the looting of the now-defunct VBS mutual bank.

The party said it has written to the President, the Speaker of Parliament, and the Public Protector to investigate the matter.

ActionSA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip said his party believes only the Public Protector can deal with this matter effectively.

"I wrote to the Public Protector on the 26th of August to ask her to institute and independent investigation into this matter. She wrote back on the 28th of August saying that she would respond to me within 10 days. 10 days came and went, and last night I wrote to her to remind her that she had missed her own deadline. This matter is a considerable impasse in South Africa, and it cannot be allowed to continue without any meaningful action."