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Malema and Shivambu VBS scandal — the point of no return?

Malema and Shivambu VBS scandal — the point of no return?
Stephen Grootes
By Stephen Grootes
16 Jul 2024
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The publication of an affidavit from the former chair of VBS detailing how, on his version, he paid money to the EFF’s top two leaders is bound to put Julus Malema and Floyd Shivambu under more pressure than ever before. While the EFF will defend its leaders and point to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala cash, it is battling to explain why it received so much money from the proceeds of crime.

Last Thursday night, Scorpio’s Pauli van Wyk published an affidavit composed and signed by former VBS chair Tshifhiwa Matodzi.

In the document, he explains that he asked to meet the leadership of the EFF because they had been attacking his bank after it lent money to former president Jacob Zuma to repay the debt he incurred through the Nkandla scandal.

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

In the end, as Van Wyk has reported, Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu decided some of the money should be paid into an account controlled by Shivambu’s brother Brian Shivambu.

Years later, Brian Shivambu had to admit that he had received the money for no good reason and repaid it.

Since the publication of Matodzi’s affidavit, the EFF eventually felt compelled to respond. It did this through its former national chairperson, the advocate Dali Mpofu.

In his defence of Malema and Shivambu, Mpofu starts by saying that Matodzi is a convicted criminal.

This is, of course, true. Matdozi will serve the first day of 15 years in prison this week — a sentence which presumably would have been much longer had he not written the affidavit.

Mpofu then claims that while Malema and Shivambu did meet with Matodzi to discuss their attacks on VBS, there is no link between the attacks on VBS and Matodzi’s decision to give the EFF what Mpofu says was a donation.

Mpofu claims that Matodzi met the EFF leadership and that at the meeting, it was agreed that the EFF would no longer attack VBS because they now understood the bank’s position.

At that same meeting, says Mpofu, Matodzi said he wanted to give the EFF a donation — but this had nothing to do with the EFF ceasing its attacks on VBS. 

Mpofu goes on to explain why the money was not paid into an account controlled by the EFF. It would seem rational that the simplest way for the EFF to receive donations from VBS would be for the EFF (presumably through its treasurer-general) to open an account at VBS.

What happened to the money?


Instead, the money went into an account of the company Sgameka, controlled by Brian Shivambu, and not the EFF directly.

This gets to the heart of one of the questions around the VBS payments to the EFF: What was the money spent on?

As Van Wyk has reported, at least some of the money was used by Malema and Shivambu personally.

Money cannot be said to be a donation to the EFF if Malema used it to buy clothing by Gucci and Le Coq Sportif at Sandton City.

https://youtu.be/O3QIacJTj10

In response to questions about why the EFF’s leadership chose for the money to be paid into the Sgameka account, Mpofu told SAfm on Monday: “It doesn’t matter which vehicle is used for a donation. That’s not a crime either, by the way…

“Just like the donations given in the CR17 campaign, that R1-billion, all of that money was given through SPVs [special purpose vehicles]… But it is not a crime, no, it’s not a crime that the money should come through a particular entity.”

However, this still does not explain why the money went this route.

What was the benefit of going through an account controlled by the brother of the EFF’s deputy leader rather than the party receiving the money directly?

Mpofu’s insistence that this is “not a crime” suggests the EFF can no longer argue only the politics of the issue. Mpofu is now arguing the law. This suggests Malema and Shivambu’s main interest will soon have to move away from defending this politically, to defending themselves against a criminal charge.

Also implicit in Mpofu’s comments since the publication of Matodzi’s affidavit is the admission that the EFF did receive money from VBS.

This is not what the party said when this was first reported in 2018.

A plain lie


Then, Floyd Shivambu said, “For the record, I have never received R10-million from VBS or anyone in my personal account… I have no dealing with VBS and any attempt to link the EFF to the bank for cheap political points is a clear sign of desperation and soon enough people will see through it.” 

Then came what is now known to be a plain lie:

“I have no dealings with VBS and attempts to link the EFF position to business dealings are disingenuous and patently weak.”

This shows how the EFF’s position has had to change as a result of the publication of Matdozi’s affidavit.

While Mpofu may preface his comments with the point that Matodzi is a convicted criminal, the fact is, he confirmed that the EFF did receive money from VBS.

This comes at a difficult time for the EFF and its leadership.

The EFF is currently the second-biggest opposition party in Parliament and is outside the coalition government, sitting next to Zuma’s uMkhonto Wesizwe.

Its hopes at the beginning of the year that it would be in the national government have disappeared.

The EFF is not even in any provincial coalitions.

And there are indications that the ANC is preparing to end its “working agreements” with the EFF in local government in Gauteng metros. If this happens, Malema’s proximity to power will be weakened still further.

Previously, Malema’s main strategy would have been to use a big state event, such as this week’s opening of Parliament, to try to change the subject, through disruption or some other spectacle.

However, just a month ago, Malema promised he would not disrupt Parliament in the future.

It will be hard to go against that now.

Even if he did want to do that, he might find that the MK caucus, bigger than his own, wins more attention.

This means the EFF will continue to try to change the subject via other means. This may well see a continued focus on other scandals and in particular, Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala money.

While Ramaphosa has never properly explained the cash in his sofa, this does nothing to absolve the EFF.

The next key moment may be in the hands of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

While this information has been in the public domain for five years, it is only now that one of those involved in the VBS scandal has explained under oath what happened. This could present the NPA with the ammunition it needs.

It should not be forgotten that while the EFF is the focus of much of the reporting about Matodzi’s affidavit, this scandal was always primarily about the ANC.

Senior members of the party’s provincial leadership in Limpopo, including then treasurer Danny Msiza, were heavily implicated.

This means that any move by the NPA to charge Malema and Shivambu will have to include ANC leaders.

While there will be public pressure, correctly, on the NPA to act, it will be relying on the testimony of those who have pleaded guilty to a series of crimes.

This could make the court proceedings difficult.

That said, it seems impossible for the NPA not to act, not after such a bombshell. While Mpofu and the EFF may claim that no crime was committed, it remains wholly unexplained why VBS paid so much money to Malema and Shivambu. DM

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