24 July 2024

Do you remember that after Julius Malema fell out of love with President Jacob Zuma, (for whom he “would kill”), and before falling back in love with him again, he and his EFF Party made Zuma’s life a misery by repeatedly demonstrating and shouting, “Pay back the money”?

This catchy phrase got some traction in South Africa. Its deadly aim was the grand looting of state money and assets that Zuma and a few of his cronies had indulged in. Zuma ended up with a multimillion Rand retirement home, Nkandla, illegally funded by the taxpayer.

Malema built his reputation for fiery speeches on this slogan. It all went to his head. He went so far as to brag that the EFF would become the largest opposition party, surpassing the Democratic Alliance (DA). He said that if the EFF had a setback, he would be held responsible.

In the event, the EFF, contrary to all expectations, had a reverse in the election in May. They lost votes, percentages of support, place in the pecking order, and number of seats. They now are a 9% party. Julius has carried on since then as though he was the election winner, making loud, vociferous statements, perhaps exciting support from his few voters, and perhaps some of Zuma’s supporters, but attracting derisive amusement from more than 80% of the voters.

The VBS scandal has rumbled on for years. This mutual bank, started under the Venda government in the Apartheid years, aimed at financing the building of houses by relatively poor people. When it went insolvent in 2018, it came to light that around R2.3 billion Rand, invested by burial societies, stokvels, elderly poor people, and illegally by smaller municipalities, had vanished.

For years there were allegations that Julius Malema and his side-kick, Floyd Shivambu, and the EFF had benefited from funds funnelled to them by VBS. Endless denials met this. Malema kept saying that the allegations were untrue and he was tired of issuing denials.

At long last, the former chairperson of VBS spilled the beans about the looting of funds from VBS. Tshifhiwa Matodzi entered into a plea bargain with the state and pleaded guilty to 33 corruption, theft, fraud, and money laundering charges. In agreeing to come clean and to give evidence of exactly what happened, including who had benefited, Matodzi signed an affidavit directly implicating officials and ANC, SACP, and EFF politicians. Among these were Malema and Shivambu.

As expected, there were vehement denials from the pair. Matodzi gave chapter and verse about VBS money that was paid into an account run by Shivambu’s brother and not into the EFF account. Matodzi alleged that this money laundering took place to keep EFF leaders quiet about a VBS loan to Jacob Zuma over Nkandla. EFF complaints stopped after payment of R16 million. Of course, Malema and Shivambu denied it. The denials were contradicted by Adv Dali Mpofu SC, who said the payments were donations to the EFF and would be repaid if there was anything illegal about the donations. He failed to state why the VBS money was laundered through the brother’s account, instead of being paid to the EFF, as any above-board donation would have been. He also failed to give an assurance that the R16 million landed up in the EFF books, rather than funding the luxury living of Malema and Shivambu.

The public says, “Pay back the money now, in mitigation of sentence if you are later tried and convicted of stealing money from poor old people.”

Douglas Gibson is a former opposition chief whip and a former ambassador to Thailand. His website is douglasgibsonsouthafrica.com

This article first appeared in The Star newspaper.