AfriForum lays criminal complaint against Malema, Shivambu and EFF over alleged VBS looting

19 Jul 2024

Head of AfriForum’s private prosecution unit, Advocate Gerrie Nel, said the unit would monitor progress on the case, and ‘take steps if the authorities fail to act’.

Kallie Kriel, CEO of the civil rights organisation AfriForum, filed a criminal complaint at the Sandton Police Station on Friday 19 July, requesting authorities to investigate EFF leaders Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu on “a range of charges, and the political party (the EFF) as an organised crime enterprise”.

In a statement on Friday, AfriForum said, “The planned and repeated fraud, corruption and money laundering offences allegedly committed by EFF leaders Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu may meet the requirements for racketeering, as defined in the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA).”

The move comes after the former chairman of VBS Mutual Bank, Tshifhiwa Matodzi, pleaded guilty last week to 33 counts of corruption, theft, fraud, money laundering and a pattern of racketeering activities, for which he was sentenced to an effective 15 years in prison.

Matodzi entered a plea deal and signed an explosive 70-page witness statement, which laid bare the corruption that rotted the VBS Bank from within. In the document, Matodzi makes allegations incriminating senior members of VBS management and high ranking politicians that cross various parties - from the EFF, ANC and SACP.

Read more: Corruption Central – VBS chairperson Tshifhiwa Matodzi’s canary song, Part One

Matodzi explains in his affidavit how he had asked to meet the leadership of the EFF because they had been criticising his bank after it had granted former president Jacob Zuma a home loan for upgrades to his Nkandla residence. Matodzi said that at that meeting with Malema and Shivambu in 2017, he had agreed to make payments to the party’s leadership.

His version

In his version, Matodzi told them they had to open an account at VBS and that he would “donate” R5-million immediately, with further regular payments of R1-million a month to the EFF.

In the end, as Scorpio’s Pauli van Wyk reported, Malema and Shivambu decided some of the money should be paid into an account controlled by Shivambu’s brother Brian Shivambu. (Shivambu admitted in 2021 that he had received R4.55-million in VBS loot for no good reason, and repaid it.)

On Thursday, Malema and the progressive caucus partners in Parliament, briefed the media ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Opening of Parliament speech. During the briefing, Malema said he’s “not scared about VBS”, News24 reported. “There’s no affidavit… it is a sponsored propaganda that is aimed at intimidating the EFF… No leader of the EFF received VBS money,” Malemma was quoted as saying.

AfriForum had, last Friday, instructed its legal team to formulate charges of corruption, fraud and money laundering against Malema and Shivambu, saying the charges would soon be filed with police.

Read more: Ex-VBS chair lifts the lid on how Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu grabbed R16.1m from dying bank

In an affidavit backing his criminal complaint, Kriel refers to the revelations made in Matodzi’s witness statement.

“This alleged criminal conduct should no longer be considered in isolation from the so-called ‘VBS scandal’ suspects, but should also include the suspicious, and in my opinion unexplored, accusations that point to the EFF political party as an enterprise, as defined in POCA,” said Kriel.

‘Reasonable suspicion’

“I submit that the publicly available documented information constitutes enough reasonable suspicion of the establishment of an EFF enterprise as determined by POCA and a history of planned, ongoing and repeated participation or involvement in criminal conduct by these individuals. This requires diligent and steadfast intervention by the authorities in a manner where they live up to the expectation that they will conduct their constitutional obligations without fear, favour or prejudice,” said Kriel.

In its statement, AfriForum said it was urging law enforcement authorities to “look at the bigger picture and broaden their investigation to include previous allegations of theft, money laundering, fraud and corruption”.

“These begin with the party’s registration with alleged proceeds of crime, followed by allegations that it benefited from large tenders awarded in metros, and allegedly used the party’s resources to fund their lifestyles. The most recent revelations, which have been in the public domain for years and make for an uncomplicated case, paint the clearest picture yet of what may be identified as ongoing criminal conduct,” it said.

Monitor progress

Head of AfriForum’s private prosecution unit, Advocate Gerrie Nel, said the unit will monitor progress on the case, “and take steps if the authorities fail to act”.

“There must be equality before the law. Unfortunately, we have not seen this in the state’s investigation and prosecution of Julius Malema and other EFF leaders. The same reluctance to pursue Malema was seen in the On Point Engineering case, where the Private Prosecution Unit continues to query why the National Prosecuting Authority has not moved forward with the trial.

“It is inexplicable, given all of the available evidence, that the Asset Forfeiture Unit has not used the legal mechanisms in POCA to seize assets such as bank accounts, property and vehicles suspected of being purchased with criminal proceeds. The irresistible inference is that Malema and Shivambu are for whatever reason sheltered from prosecution and related processes,” Nel said.

Daily Maverick sent queries to SAPS Gauteng and will add any responses once they have been received. DM

Daily Maverick’s journalism is funded by the contributions of our Maverick Insider members. If you appreciate our work, then join our membership community. Defending Democracy is an everyday effort. Be part of it. Become a Maverick Insider.

Categories:

Tags:

DM is much better if you are signed in...

Politics

His version

‘Reasonable suspicion’

Monitor progress