NEWS & ANALYSIS

ANC Limpopo to hold emergency meeting over VBS

We get worried where it says senior leaders of the party are involved in criminal activities, says Soviet Lekganyane

ANC Limpopo to hold emergency meeting over VBS

11 October 2018

The ANC in Limpopo is expected to meet on Thursday to discuss a damning forensic report into a R1.8bn fraud investigation against VBS Mutual Bank.

The governing party's provincial secretary, Soviet Lekganyane, told News24 that ANC officials in the province would meet before charting a way forward.

"We get worried where it says senior leaders of the party are involved in criminal activities," Lekganyane added.

The provincial secretary raised concern over perceptions that it's only ANC leaders who were linked to the fall of the bank and said VBS' problems could not just be attributed to two of the party's provincial leaders.

"We still have to hear them out," he added.

He pointed out that those who were implicated would be given an opportunity to share their views on the report.

The SA Reserve Bank placed VBS under curatorship in March.

The report, compiled by advocate Terry Motau and Werksmans Attorneys, is titled "The Great Bank Heist" and was published on Wednesday.

It contains details of how money was looted through the bank and lists former VBS executive and its largest shareholder, Vele Investments, as alleged perpetrators.

Several politicians linked to the ANC were implicated as well as EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu's brother, Brian Shivambu.

The ANC's deputy chairperson in the province, Florence Radzilani, and treasurer, Danny Msiza, were also implicated.

VBS head of treasury Phophi Mukhodobwane testified that Msiza played the role of political influencer and fixer, convincing many political leaders of municipalities to invest money in the bank.

Meanwhile, the EFF has announced its intention to hold a media briefing about the report next week.

The young Shivambu was said to have received R16m from the collapsed bank. The Daily Maverick claimed that R10m of that money went to his brother, while R1.3m went to the EFF.

When eNCA quizzed the red berets' national chairperson Dali Mpofu on the sidelines of a Black Management Forum event, he said: "We are not answerable for brothers and sisters." He added that the party was not a burial society.

"I received R20 from my sister yesterday and the EFF has not had a discussion about it," he said. "Why should we have a discussion about what a family does?"

EFF secretary general Godrich Gardee referred News24 to its spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, who was not available to comment at the time of publishing.

News24