Civil rights organisation AfriForum has again aimed its guns on EFF president Julius Malema and his deputy Floyd Shivambu, instructing its legal team to draw up charges against the duo over the multibillion-rand VBS scandal.
The group is getting ready to open a case of corruption, fraud and money laundering against the Red Berets’ leaders after controversial former VBS chairperson Tshifhiwa Matodzi, in a leaked affidavit, fingered the two of having been complicit in the brazen looting of R2.3 billion of the now collapsed bank.
Last week, the VBS matter came back into the spotlight after the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, sentenced Matodzi to 15 years in prison following a plea bargain.
Matodzi wrote an explosive affidavit implicating politicians, political parties and business people.
He 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 in Venda Thohoyandou; and municipalities lost their money after investing in the bank.
In the detailed affidavit, Matodzi states that the bank had made a donation of R5 million to the EFF in 2017, thereafter making monthly payments of R1 million to the VBS account of the company belonging to Floyd’s brother Brian Shivambu, called Sgameka Projects.
It was later alleged that Brian Shivambu had handed the two EFF leaders a credit card for them to use for their personal benefit.
In a statement released this week, AfriForum revealed that it had requested advocate Gerrie Nel and his team at AfriForum’s private prosecutions unit to monitor the case and to put pressure on the prosecution process.
AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said should it appear that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was dragging its feet, they would consider private prosecution after they had laid charges.
AfriForum argues that Matodzi’s statement provided sufficient grounds for the NPA to obtain a preservation order on Malema and Shivambu’s assets.
Asked why focus on Malema and Shivambu when other politicians were pointed out in the affidavit, Kriel said: “The State’s failure to prosecute Malema for his part in the On-Point Engineering corruption case has apparently given him the impression that he is untouchable and that he can simply continue with his involvement in alleged corrupt activities.
“That is why it is important that Malema and Shivambu are prosecuted for the plundering of VBS, to send a very clear message that nobody is above the law.”
He was referring to a 2013 tender scandal Malema was embroiled in involving a tender worth R52m which was allegedly unlawfully awarded to the company in 2009.
The contract was for On-Point to oversee work by service providers contracted to the Limpopo roads and transport department.
Malema was never prosecuted on those allegations then.
“We believe in the concept of equality before the law and nobody should be untouchable ...
“A few years ago, there was the On-Point corruption scandal where we lodged a complaint. Initially the NPA charged Malema but then later decided to first charge the others and Malema later.
“If it were you and I we would have long been charged, so we are fighting for the principle of equality before the law,” he said.
Kriel added that they would also be acting on other politicians pointed out in the affidavit.
The EFF had initially denied the allegations after Matodzi claimed that the party had received donations, therefore refusing to respond to questions regarding the matter.
EFF spokesperson Leigh-Ann Mathys had 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 are pinned in VBS and double your energy on Cyril Ramaphosa’s illegal foreign currency that was hidden in sofas and mattresses in his Phala Phala farm.”
However, The Star had reported that the EFF’s former chairperson, advocate Dali Mpofu, had conceded on national television that his party had received a “donation” from the now defunct VBS bank.
Dozens of people have since been arrested over the scandal.
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
mashudu.sadike@inl.co.za