ANC ices Sisisi Tolashe — but remains silent on second minister in SUV scandal

The ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) president, Sisisi Tolashe, is on “special leave” following her axing by President Cyril Ramaphosa as minister of social development, with secretary-general Nokuthula Nqaba assuming Tolashe’s ANCWL functions on an interim basis until Tolashe’s internal ANC disciplinary processes are concluded.

The decision, taken unanimously by the ANCWL’s National Executive Committee (NEC) at a special meeting in Boksburg on Saturday and confirmed in an ANCWL statement on Monday, follows the ANC’s highest decision-making body’s endorsement of the party’s Integrity Commission’s findings against Tolashe and the referral of her matter to its National Disciplinary Committee.

It looks, on the surface, like accountability in action. But there is a question the ANC has not clearly answered: what has happened to the other minister, also prominent within the ANCWL, implicated in the very same Chinese SUV scandal that helped bring Tolashe down?

As Daily Maverick revealed in April, the minister of planning, monitoring and evaluation, Maropene Ramokgopa, is accused of accepting three BAIC X55 SUVs — the same model at the centre of the Tolashe allegations — from Chinese representatives in late 2023. As in Tolashe’s case, these appear to have been intended ostensibly as donations for the ANCWL, where Ramokgopa serves as national coordinator.

Daily Maverick traced one of those vehicles to Ramokgopa’s son, Xhantilomzi Ntuli, whose name appeared on the registration records for a yellow BAIC X55 from January 2024, a few months before Tolashe’s children had BAIC X55s registered in their names.

A second such vehicle, Daily Maverick established, was seen being used by members of the family of Luvo Makasi, a close Ramokgopa associate, in a township near Whittlesea in the Eastern Cape. Although Daily Maverick received information that the third BAIC X55 received by Ramokgopa was being used, via a driver, by Ramokgopa’s elderly mother in Limpopo, we were unable to confirm this.

Ramokgopa’s spokesperson flatly denied she had received any cars from Chinese officials, even after being presented with the registration records. No alternative explanation for the provenance of her son’s vehicle was offered.

Ramokgopa did not disclose receiving any gifts in Parliament’s Register of Members’ Interests for 2023, 2024 or 2025.

What now for Ramokgopa?

At a media briefing held on Saturday at the ANCWL’s NEC meeting, the ANC secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, was asked directly about the other minister implicated in the Chinese car scandal.

“We don’t know whether the cars come from China or wherever they come from,” said Mbalula, before confirming that “another NEC leader” had appeared before the Integrity Commission and that a report was still pending. He did not name Ramokgopa.

While Tolashe has lost her Cabinet post, faces a disciplinary committee process with the ANC NEC itself as complainant, and has now been placed on leave of absence as both MP and from the ANCWL presidency, Ramokgopa remains a Cabinet minister, retains her position as the ANC’s second deputy secretary-general, and apparently continues to serve as ANCWL national coordinator.

No findings against her have been made public, and there is no hint on the surface that pressure is building against her.

Tolashe, of course, has been implicated in several other scandals beyond the Chinese SUV issue.

But the more salient point may be that Ramokgopa is one of Ramaphosa’s most trusted allies: the President’s office did not respond to Daily Maverick’s questions about her when the story broke in April.

The ANC NEC’s statement of 26 May, which triggered the chain of events culminating in Tolashe’s leave of absence, mentions a number of other ANC “comrades” beyond Tolashe referred to the party’s National Disciplinary Committee as a result of Integrity Commission recommendations: former Police Minister Bheki Cele, ANC regional secretary Jason Mkhwane, Matjhabeng Mayor Thanduxolo Khalipha and Johannesburg ANC councillor Sithembiso Zungu.

Absent: Ramokgopa.

No hard feelings, Tolashe

In its Monday statement, the ANCWL was at pains to frame the Tolashe matter as procedurally correct rather than politically motivated.

“Notwithstanding the gravity of the allegations made against Comrade Tolashe, the ANC Women’s League cannot negate the doctrine of natural justice and the presumption of innocence, which is enshrined in Section 35 of the Constitution of the Republic,” the statement read.

Nqaba confirmed at Saturday’s press conference that the league’s NEC had unanimously agreed Tolashe should take a leave of absence to allow her to focus on the disciplinary process.

Mbalula said the Tolashe disciplinary process was expected to conclude within three months, after which the findings would be made public.

What happened to Tolashe in the interim, he stressed, was the ANCWL’s call and Tolashe’s own, and it was not within his purview to dictate to the ANCWL that Tolashe be suspended.

“This is absolutely in their hands what they want to decide. The Women’s League may take decisions on this matter in relation to their president ... that while the case is going through the disciplinary committee, the president may want to step aside once that case has been finalised, and all of that,” said Mbalula.

“But that in itself is a decision of the Women’s League.”

Mbalula said the ANC’s NEC had not taken a decision yet on Tolashe’s membership of that body.

Tolashe was not present at the Saturday meeting. Nqaba confirmed that her apology had been tabled and accepted, citing family commitments.

In a previous report to the ANCWL NEC, Tolashe defended herself by claiming the vehicles had been donated to the league rather than to her personally. She maintained that she had merely taken them into safekeeping because the league’s financial distress left its assets vulnerable to seizure. Both the ANC and the ANCWL said they had no knowledge or record of any such donation.

ANCWL leaders down to three

Nqaba stressed that her interim role is not an unelected promotion.

The ANCWL constitution provides for the secretary-general to assume presidential functions when the president is unavailable, but it does not amount to a permanent replacement.

If Tolashe is ultimately required to resign, the ANCWL would begin preparations for a leadership conference — although one challenge is that the ANC NEC has already placed a moratorium on league conferences before the November local government elections.

The ANCWL’s difficulties are compounded by a vacancy that predates the Tolashe crisis: the deputy presidency spot has been empty since the death of Lungi Mnganga-Gcabashe in May 2025.

“We are not the top seven; we are the top five. And for us to have a quorum, we need three officials,” said Nqaba.

Other than Nqaba, the ANCWL leadership currently consists of Deputy Secretary-General Dina Pule and Treasurer-General Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae.

Mbalula dismissed suggestions the Women’s League was fracturing.

“This is a shock to the Women’s League, but they have not allowed this to divide them,” he told journalists.

Neither Mbalula nor Nqaba voiced any adverse opinions about Tolashe’s conduct, though both hinted that a smooth resolution might be achieved by Tolashe voluntarily resigning.

“We don’t doubt her as a member of the organisation, but it comes down to individual conscience and the integrity of the organisation. We will wait for her next move,” said Nqaba. DM

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