Simelane lashes out at detractors, says she's been tried in court of public opinion
Thembi Simelane
Democratic Alliance (DA)
Human Settlements Minister Thembi Simelane during debate on the budget of the department in Parliament on 2 July 2025. Picture: Parliament/Zwelethemba Kostile
CAPE TOWN - Human Settlements Minister Thembi Simelane has lashed out at her detractors, saying she's been tried in the court of public opinion.
She was responding to the Democratic Alliance (DA) during the budget debate of her department on Wednesday afternoon, as its MPs sought to drive home the party's view that she should be fired.
On Tuesday, the party said it had been informed that an investigating officer had been assigned to probe corruption allegations against Simelane, following its complaint at the Cape Town Police Station last year, when it emerged that Simelane had loaned money from an intermediary linked to the defrauded VBS Bank to buy a coffee shop.
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• Majority of political parties in NCOP reject higher education dept's budget, call for Nkabane's axing The DA's Luyolo Mphithi said that having been removed as justice minister and moved to human settlements in response to corruption allegations, Simelane could not be trusted with over R30 billion in public funds.
In line with a party resolution over the weekend, the party's MPs said on Wednesday that it would not vote in favour of a budget where Simelane was in charge.
But Simelane addressed the matter head-on.
"Yes, you stand in the dock before a judge when you are charged. I'm not amazed that you don't know this because I'm undergoing trial without charges. You are trying me in the public air, because you think it's the only way to degrade the work that I'm doing."
Opposition parties, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), also objected to the budget vote, saying the department was inadequately funded to house millions of South Africans.
ActionSA, meanwhile, said that while the allegations against the minister were worrying, the party was rejecting the budget because of the department's failures to provide enough housing and a lack of accountability for those involved in wrongdoing at entities linked to the department.
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