Municipalities' illegal VBS investments fund lavish lifestyles at the expense of the poor

25 June 2018

Revelations emerged this weekend of how the Vahvenda king, Toni Mphephu Ramabulana, and top executives of VBS Bank lived the high-life while residents of municipalities who invested money with the bank will be short changed of services in the coming financial year as there is no money to fund their budgets.

Both Merafong and the West Rand District Municipality invested a collective amount of R100 million with the bank, money which according to the Reserve Bank will not be recoverable.

The DA has, since 2017, been calling on Gauteng Finance MEC, Barbara Creecy to investigate these municipalities' dealings with the bank, as the people’s money has been lost to individuals who have sought to bank-roll their expensive lifestyles through municipal investments.

MEC Creecy has absolved her Constitutional responsibility to the residents of these municipalities by shifting the investigation off to another sphere of government.

This blatant and unscrupulous abuse of people’s money must be investigated by the Hawks and those who are implicated must be brought to book.

For far too long residents in these municipalities suffered due to financial mismanagement and neglect by the ANC. It seems that at every level of government the ANC is incapable of acting in the best interests of the people.

We will make sure that this breach of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) is dealt with and that those involved in this are brought to book.

Issued by Adriana Randall, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Finance, 25 June 2018