SACP must pay back alleged R3 million VBS “bribe”

12 November 2018

The Democratic Alliance (DA) notes a report over the weekend which suggests that the South African Communist Party (SACP) took a R3 million “bribe” from VBS Mutual Bank in return for their silence on the bank’s relationship with the Gupta family.

The SACP allegedly requested millions from VBS to fund the party’s national congress last year, supposedly in exchange for the party’s silence on VBS reopening the Guptas’ business accounts. Vele investments, the majority stakeholder of the bank, used one of its subsidiary companies (MML Food Services) to pay the SACP’s bill for the use of the Birchwood Hotel & OR Tambo Conference Centre in Boksburg. The payment was seemingly made from the subsidiary company to conceal any links between the bank and the SACP.

These allegations are a damning indictment on the SACP, and if they are true, the party must pay back every cent.

The SACP continuously parades itself as champions of the people yet this is not the first time the party has been caught out colluding with the defunct bank, which stole billions from our people.

Just last week, the SACP in Limpopo suspended its provincial secretary and former Capricorn District Municipality Mayor, Gilbert Kganyago, whose council illegally deposited R60 million into VBS.

The DA stands firm in its stance that all those implicated in looting and stealing from the poor and vulnerable need to be held accountable for their actions.

The SACP presents itself as being relentless in its pursuit of investigations into corruption, and it is therefore deeply concerning to find that they are as corrupt as those they seek to scrutinize.

Countless South Africans have lost their life savings and ordinary residents in municipalities which illegally deposited billions into the bank will soon bear the brunt of stagnant services.

It is clear that the DA is the only party which has sincerely fought against the scourge of corruption at VBS and will continue to do so.

Issued by Kevin Mileham, DA Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs 12 November 2018