ActionSA sceptical about ANC calls to hold VBS perpetrators to account

19 April 2023

ActionSA notes renewed calls for those responsible for the looting of the Venda Building Society (VBS) be held accountable and punished for their sins that saw hundreds of poor South Africans losing their money in what is known as the biggest bank heist in South Africa.

We welcome the ANC’s calls but remain sceptical as to whether these calls will find expression in our criminal justice system against the culprits who plundered the money of the most vulnerable people of Limpopo. ActionSA is of the view that these overtures are nothing but a cynical and empty campaign promise with little prospect of success.

Since the breaking of the scandal a few years ago, scores of criminals and thugs that looted the bank are still largely not held accountable. The culprits, most of them ANC cadres, are still running amok in Limpopo Province, the main citadel of the bank heist.

Considering the fact that the case itself is moving at a glacial pace and likely to take years before the courts mete out justice, it is critically important that other methods of punishment should be seen to be meted out against all the culprits.

Let’s not forget that the ANC top brass in Limpopo has been implicated in this shameful scandal, including the likes of former Provincial Treasurer, Danny Msiza, and current ANC Deputy Chairperson and MEC, Florence Radzilani. In fact, Radzilani has been promoted by none other than the Premier of Limpopo Province, Stanley Mathabatha. It is actually the height of irony that the same Mathabatha who ‘fired’ Radzilani for the VBS scandal later promoted her to a Member of the Executive Council. This is unacceptable.

While ActionSA agrees with the ANC on dealing with VBS suspects within its ranks, it is clear that the decision is opportunistic, inspired by the 2024 general election.

The ruling party, for the first time on the brink of losing power next year, is trying to fool the voters in Limpopo Province to believe that it is acting in the best interests of the victims of this heinous act. Nothing is farther from the truth. This is nothing else but a self-serving stratagem to save the corrupt ruling party from imminent demise.

ActionSA calls upon the people of Limpopo Province to see this initiative for what it is. Our people are not stupid and must in their numbers reject the corrupt ruling party by voting it out of power next year.

Henceforth, ActionSA will place this matter high on its agenda of highlighting this injustice until justice is done.

Justice delayed is justice denied.

Issued by Sello Lediga, ActionSA Limpopo Provincial Chairperson, 19 April 2023