Venda chief warns ANC to forget step-aside rule and act against VBS looting accused, or lose more votes

Venda traditional leader Chief Livhuwani Matsila believes that it is especially important for the ANC to disregard the party’s step-aside guidelines and immediately discipline members who are believed to have somehow aided the looting of the now-defunct VBS Mutual Bank.

The Ha-Matsila Village is in the Vhembe District, where many VBS depositors reside, which prompted the chief to take a strong stand against the looting of the bank.

Matsila, who is also the secretary of the ANC’s electoral committee and a staunch Ramaphosa ally, told Daily Maverick that it was important for the party to take action as it enjoyed great support from the Limpopo province. He said that if the ANC continued to drag its feet, it would alienate its voters in the province.

The ANC managed to garner 74.23% of the vote in the province followed by the EFF, which won 12.97%.

“Those who are involved in the ANC should be brought to book because it will be unacceptable if they do not do it. The ANC has been silent about it as if they are supporting those who have been implicated. The ANC should be defending the community and be closer to them. I feel that political leaders are away from the victims,” he said.

The ANC’s national spokesperson has not yet officially commented on the matter. However, Limpopo spokesperson Jimmy Machaka has been quoted as saying that the province would hold a Provincial Executive Committee meeting to discuss the matter. 

Machaka also mentioned that the party could not unleash its step-aside rule on members who have not officially been charged.

Alliance members implicated

Matsila’s comments come in light of the leaked affidavit by convicted VBS fraudster Tshifhiwa Matodzi, which not only places him at the centre of the white-collar crimes committed, but fingers key political players.

Matodzi claimed that former ANC treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize allegedly requested R2-million from the bank during a meeting about helping to access funds from the Public Investment Corporation (PIC).

ANC Limpopo deputy chair Florence Radzilani is accused of having R300,000 channelled towards her for investing in the now-defunct VBS Mutual Bank during her tenure as Vhembe mayor.

Former ANC Limpopo treasurer Danny Msiza has been charged with his co-accused in the R2.3-billion heist. He has adhered to the party’s step-aside rule which prohibited his participation in the provincial leadership race in 2022.

Read more: VBS chairperson Tshifhiwa Matodzi tries to exonerate his family from looting, claims full responsibility

In his affidavit, Matodzi claimed that the SA Communist Party (SACP) also received money from the bank. The funds were allegedly used for the party’s 2017 conference at the Birchwood Hotel & OR Tambo Conference Centre. 

In an open letter to the Communist Party national chair Blade Nzimande, former Limpopo SACP secretary Phatse Justice Piitso lashed out after the allegations.

He slammed the SACP for having so-called secret meetings with representatives of VBS. Piitso also called for the party to pay back any money received from the mutual bank.

According to Matodzi’s affidavit, he paid R3-million through the company MML Food Services to Birchwood Hotel to cover catering costs at the SACP national congress, which he said was a donation and not a loan.

“In hindsight, no one can deny, that the initial condemnation by the SACP was just a [sleight] of hand, a designed scheme to intimidate the bank, so that it come closer and disgorge patronage, as they did to others. In the absence of any other reasoning, this can only be the deduction to be made,” said Piitso.

“All delegates who attended the 2017 Congress are unwittingly complicit for being fed by the money illegally begotten from VBS,” he wrote to Nzimande.

“Under your leadership the party was plunged into a pedestal of immorality, which will take more than just paying back the money and the material loss in gross interest over the years.”

Speaking to Newzroom Afrika on Tuesday, Nzimande denied the SACP took money from VBS. He said a food company donated the funds.

“The SACP took no money from VBS, the SACP stole no money from VBS. The money was donated by a legitimate company that we raised money from, and they themselves said they are not a front for VBS.”

Victims stranded

Speaking to Daily Maverick, the chairperson of the VBS Minority Shareholders’ Forum and one of the founders of the bank, Madambi Muvhulawa, lamented how the looting had impacted the lives of depositors. 

VBS minority shareholders, mainly found in the Vhembe District of Limpopo, want their money to be paid back.

“There are people who legitimately got loans from the defunct bank then, and are servicing their debts properly monthly, so the little money is there and the curator should be able to give us something. We do appreciate the prosecution of the culprits but please pay us our money back.” 

Muvhulawa said while they appreciated Matodzi’s conviction, as well as that of former chief financial officer Phillip Truter, who is now out on parole, many minority shareholders remain destitute.

“In 2019, we were only allowed to withdraw [up to] R100,000 per depositor. It only happened once and since then we haven’t heard anything from the curator and the Reserve Bank. Our main concern is that the people who legitimately got loans from the bank are servicing their loans monthly through Nedbank. So it means that some money is there and let them share with us,” said Muvhulawa.

Muvhulawa is also concerned about a lack of communication between the Reserve Bank and the curator, adding that they had largely depended on the media for information.

“Every information that we have including the arrest of suspects we heard it from the media. There is no formal communication that we get from the Reserve Bank,” he said.

Another businessman and VBS shareholder, Aubrey Mulaudzi, agreed.

“We appreciate the arrests but we should get our money back. But you know what, God is with us and he will fight for us. The suspects never thought the VBS saga will reach this stage, making national headlines daily,” he said, warning that justice was catching up with the culprits.

“It is like the biblical story of David and Goliath. Even though we will get our money back one day, the toughest people such as politicians will fall one day,” he said.

Read more: What did Treasury DG do? Dondo Mogajane, the minister’s daughters and the VBS ‘bribes’

In 2017, ordinary VBS depositors spent nights queuing outside the bank’s branch office in Thohoyandou in the hope of withdrawing their cash.

One of the depositors who spoke to Daily Maverick, but wanted to remain anonymous, said that she had invested her late husband’s pension in the bank. After news started surfacing that the bank was about to collapse and be put under curatorship, she and others started trying to withdraw their money.

“Unfortunately we were not allowed to withdraw the whole amount. We were then told to switch accounts from VBS to Nedbank, but only allowed to withdraw [up to] R100,000. We appreciate the arrests and prosecution but let them pay back the money,” she said. DM