#VBSHeist: Ethics Committee confirms investigation of Shivambu

18 October 2018

The DA, yesterday, received confirmation that Parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interest will be investigating Floyd Shivambu’s possible conflict of interest regarding payments received from his brother, Brian Shivambu.

On Tuesday, the leader of the EFF confirmed that as brothers, there were numerous transactions between Floyd and Brian Shivambu.

In the South African Reserve Bank’s VBS Mutual Bank Heist report Brian is said to have received R16 million from the bank “without an apparent cause” and it was further alleged in media reports that evidence existed of Floyd receiving R10 million of that money.

In his letter to the DA, the Acting Registrar of Members’ Interests Adv. X Gordon confirms that “the matter is being attended to and you will be notified of the outcome of the investigation once the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests has decided on the matter.”

We welcome the speed in which the Ethics Committee responded to our complaint, and trust that the same expeditiousness will be applied to the investigation.

We call on the Ethics Committee to conduct a hearing and it be open to the public given the public interest in the matter, and to as per the Code of Conduct:

- Call witnesses;

- Summon any person to appear before it to give evidence on oath or affirmation; and

- Summon any person to produce any relevant documents.

We look forward to the investigation, and if any wrongdoing found, the harshest sanction be meted out against Shivambu on behalf of the thousands of poor people whose money was stolen in the VBS Heist.

Issued by Phumzile Van Damme, Team One South Africa Spokesperson on Corruption, 18 October 2018