Tolashe's advisor condemns internal backlash and denies the 'fake' WhatsApp scandal

Ngwako Kgatla, special adviser to Social Development Minister Sisisi Tolashe, has broken his silence amid a media storm over allegations of abuse of office and an alleged personal relationship with the minister.

Speaking out publicly for the first time, Kgatla strongly denied any wrongdoing and claimed that the ongoing smear campaign is a deliberate act of retaliation by individuals within the department whose questionable conduct is being exposed.

“Since we came into the department, we found corruption,” Kgatla said in a candid statement. “Some officials were doing business with the state. We have uncovered a lot of rot. Now we’re waking up in the media, and stories are being planted by our own officials.”

Kgatla is accused of holding dual roles in government while receiving salaries from both positions in contravention of the Public Service Act. He is also accused of having a personal relationship with Minister Tolashe, based on WhatsApp messages circulated on social media.

But Kgatla dismissed the allegations as baseless and politically motivated.

“The WhatsApp messages are fake. How would two people’s messages find themselves to social media? I have a professional relationship with the minister. Nothing sinister,” he said. “The allegations are nothing but gutter. Anybody can see that the screenshots circulating are fake.”

“I was employed at a job in the North West. That organisation is not under business rescue. I have provided evidence of my resignation from the organisation to you. You can see for yourself that I resigned long before I became the minister’s advisor. This is a fight back by the protagonists of state capture we found at the department.”

The Star has seen the said resignation letter and appointment letter to the department.

The Department of Social Development has confirmed that the matter is under an internal review, but he remains in his position as special adviser.

In addressing some of the allegations, Kgatla pointed to the recent suspension of a department official linked to a digital media platform called DSDTV — a virtual TV portal designed to showcase Social Development programmes — which, he says, is linked to a staff member.

“There’s a matter of DSDTV, a virtual TV portal showing departmental programmes and efforts,” Kgatla explained. “It appeared that the portal belongs to one of the department’s officials. The department suspended the official — and within a day, we were trending.”

He framed the fallout from this revelation as part of a broader “fightback” from individuals who had, for years, operated with little accountability within the public service.

“This is a fightback from some who have had free rein of the government’s cut for the longest time,” he said. “We came here to work and serve the people — not to protect networks of corruption. This is what we found when we took over the department.”

The tension within the department comes at a time of increasing political pressure over fraud and dysfunction at the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), which falls under the same ministry. Earlier in the year the Democratic Alliance (DA) escalated its call for a full Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe into widespread fraud within the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant system.

DA MP and Deputy Social Development Spokesperson Alexandra Abrahams warned that thousands of vulnerable South Africans were being defrauded, particularly young people who discovered that grants had been fraudulently issued in their names.

The DA’s request, first submitted to President Cyril Ramaphosa in November 2024, gained renewed urgency after a SASSA presentation to Parliament revealed serious failures in biometric verification and cybersecurity protections within the SRD grant application system.

Even more concerning, according to Abrahams, is that the rollout of biometric kiosks for in-person verification has stalled, and SASSA’s Know Your Customer (KYC) verification system remains unreliable and intermittently offline.

Tolashe has recommended the appointment of an independent service provider to investigate fraud in the social grant system — a move that echoes the DA’s call for a full investigation.“The minister is preparing to brief the media of the deep seethed corruption we found at DSD”Kgatla said.