Former EFF chairperson advocate Dali Mpofu has conceded on national television that his party had received a “donation” from the now collapsed VBS bank that left scores of poor people defrauded in 2018.
This despite the party initially denying having received any funds from the scandal ridden bank that has implicated EFF leader Julius Malema and his deputy Floyd Shivambu.
Last week, the bank’s former chairperson Tshifhiwa Matodzi was handed a 15-year jail term by the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, after he penned an explosive affidavit implicating politicians, political parties and business people - as a plea bargain.
Matodzi pleaded guilty to 33 counts which include corruption, theft, fraud, money laundering, and a pattern of racketeering activities in contravention of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.
Burial societies; stokvels; individuals, particularly the elderly; and municipalities lost about R2.3 billion of theory investments in the bank after the brazen looting of the funds by its management and politicians.
In his affidavit, Matodzi implicated the EFF, including the ANC and the SACP, while confirming advocate Terry Motau’s “The Great Bank Heist” report that blew the lid off the scandal.
Mpofu, during a ‘Newsroom Afrika’ interview on Sunday night, conceded that his party had received a donation from the bank and was willing to pay it back if there would be evidence of wrongdoing.
“There has never been denial that the EFF had received funds from VBS …
“We must separate what is called a donation which is what happens to political parties. There is no political party that does not receive donations,” said Mpofu.
He denied that there was any wrongdoing in the transaction, saying those who had proof that corruption was involved had to bring up the evidence.
“What is being said here is corruption. But I ask where is corruption? Where is the fraud? And where is the money laundering?” Mpofu asked.
Mpofu said Matodzi’s affidavit shed more light on the scandal because it was clear that it was a donation to the EFF after the party was critical of the R7 million loan to former president Jacob Zuma for his Nkandla homestead’s refurbishments.
“If anything, that affidavit contains information which absolves the persons you have liberally said had been fingered …
“Initially it was said that these were paid to individuals, but Matodzi is now saying that this was a donation to the EFF. He says that he had a meeting with them after the EFF was critical of the loan to Zuma,” he said.
“There are two things that need to be separated … one is the Zuma loan … which is what sparked the whole thing. Because the EFF was criticising the Zuma loan publicly and it was damaging to the organisation so he felt like he needed to meet …
“The Matodzi affidavit, if anything, sheds better light on who the beneficiaries are and who are not,” he said.
However, the EFF had initially denied the allegations after Matodzi claimed that the EFF had received donations to the value of around R16 million of the VBS money.
Last week following the Matodzi leaked affidavit, EFF spokesperson Leigh-Ann Mathys said: “There is absolutely no change in our statements regarding VBS. There have been endless archives on this.
“Please also focus your energy on those who pinned in VBS and double your energy on that Cyril Ramaphosa’s illegal foreign currency that was hidden in sofas and mattresses in his Phala Phala farm.”
This is a contradiction of what Mpofu said.
In the leaked affidavit by Matodzi and widely circulated, he confirmed that the EFF received money from VBS in separate trenches.
“At some stage, Floyd (Shivambu) indicated that they had opened an account at VBS in the name of a company called Sgameka,” Matodzi stated.
“A transfer of R5 million, as promised, was made on my instruction from Malibongwe to Sgameka on 8 June 2017. Subsequent payments were made to the Sgameka VBS account every month,” Matodzi stated.
In the same interview, Public Interest SA founder Tebogo Khaas said the funds were not supposed to have reached the EFF.
“The fact of the matter is that money that was not supposed to have reached the coffers of the EFF, or its leaders, did filter through to them and money that ought not to have gone to them went through …
“Money would not have left VBS to the EFF if the party did not initially criticise the Zuma loan but later they changed their tune after money exchanged hands.
“Old and poor people's money did leave VBS as an entity that ostensibly fights for them,” Khaas said.
He further questioned why the money had to go through hoops to reach the EFF if it were a donation.
Former VBS chief financial officer Philip Truter is expected to be a star witness when the trial starts after he took a plea bargain and accepted a seven-year imprisonment sentence in exchange for information, but has now been freed on parole.
The bank was placed under curatorship by the SA Reserve Bank, and a forensic investigation was instituted to establish exactly what went wrong.
It is expected that more details will be disclosed when the trial begins in October.
The Star