The corrupt Dina Pule, South Africa's fired former communications minister has been found guilty on the majority of extremely serious charges levelled against her by parliament's ethics committee.
The well-heeled in Christian Louboutin shoes Dina Pule, has been found guilty of abusing her power as a South African minister and that she had blatantly lied to parliament.
The committee has recommended that parliament refer Dina Pule's corruption findings to the police and the National Prosecution Authority (NPA).
The ethics committee said that Dina Pule lover Phosane Mngqibisa benefitted from contracts like the R6 million which was given to Carol Bouwer to organise a communications indaba, and took him on expensive overseas trips, courtesy of the state, amounting to "improper benefits".
"The kind of influence that Phosane Mngqibisa was able to exercise as a result of his relationship with Dina Pule goes beyond the ICT indaba itself, and perhaps into other terrain as well," said ethics committee chairperson Ben Turok today.
Parliament's ethics committee says Dina Pule as well as several officials of South Africa's department of communications colluded and lied during the hearings, saying that the intent was to "willfully mislead the panel".
Dina Pule received the harshest punishment the ethics committee can give: she has been fined for a month's salary, will have her parliamentary privileges suspended for 15 days, and will be reprimanded publicly in the national assembly.
