JOHANNESBURG –  Former Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini has been sentenced to four years in prison or a R200,000 fine for perjury.

READ: LIVESTREAM | Former Minister Dlamini’s sentencing for perjury

If she chooses to go to prison, half of the sentence will be suspended for five years.

Magistrate Betty Khumalo says Dlamini overstepped her authority in the social grants saga.

Dlamini was convicted of perjury after having been found to have lied to a Constitutional Court-mandated inquiry into the Sassa grants crisis.