VBS 2.0

The ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) said it wants to restore VBS Mutual Bank to full operation and return it to its legitimate owners.

The ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) said it wants to restore VBS Mutual Bank to full operation and return it to its legitimate owners.

This was one of the decisions that emerged from the ANC’s National Executive Committee Lekgotla last week.

The National Executive Committee is the highest organ of the ANC between National Conferences and has the authority to lead the organisation.

ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said the party has noted that the VBS account holders want their bank back.

“All due efforts by relevant stakeholders should be made towards ensuring that this bank is restored to full operation and returned to its legitimate owners,” he said.

“The NEC reaffirmed our position that all people implicated in wrongdoing on VBS must be subjected to the full course of the law.”

Mbalula added that the NEC committed that the ANC would return any monies proven to have accrued to it, unknowingly, from the destruction of VBS.

The Mail & Guardian reported that there are efforts to reopen the bank as a commercial entity under a new name.

Chief Livhuwani Matsila, founder of the Matsila Community Development Trust, told the publication that they had discussed the matter with the South African Reserve Bank.

The Matsila Community Development Trust has been a key player in helping people recover their money after VBS was liquidated.

“Having a bank in the community is not just about restoring a financial institution. It is a crucial step in rebuilding our local economy and restoring confidence in the financial sector,” he said.

The VBS Shareholders Forum also said it was working on reviving the bank and that the decision to liquidate it was premature.

In July, the forum held a media briefing in Thohoyandou, Limpopo, saying it believes the Reserve Bank could have done more to rescue the bank.

VBS Mutual Bank looting

Mbalula comments followed damning revelations regarding the looting of VBS Mutual Bank, where many political parties and connected individuals benefitted.

VBS Mutual Bank started as Venda Building Society in 1982 and became a mutual bank a decade later.

By 2016, the bank reportedly had around 30,000 depositors with total deposits of R800 million. Most of its former clients live in Limpopo province.

In 2017, the bank planned to list on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). However, this never materialized.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) placed VBS Bank under curatorship on 11 March 2018 due to liquidity problems.

A 2018 report released by the SARB found evidence of wide-scale looting, fraud and corruption at VBS Bank.

The Reserve Bank recommended that the bank’s leadership, public officials, and auditors be criminally charged and held liable in civil proceedings.

In June 2020, eight people associated with VBS were charged by the NPA with 47 counts of theft, fraud, corruption, and contraventions of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.

VBS Bank chairperson Tshifhiwa Matodzi, CEO Andile Ramavhunga, and CFO Philip Truter were among those arrested and charged.

A leaked affidavit from Matodzi alleged that many high-profile politicians and political parties benefitted from corruption at VBS.

He named EFF leaders Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu, former National Treasury DG Dondo Mogajane, and former health minister Zweli Mkhize. They have all denied any wrongdoing.

Matodzi also said VBS Bank paid a R3 million bill for the South African Communist Party’s (SACP’s) conference. SACP national chair Blade Nzimande denied the allegations.

“The SACP took no money from VBS. The SACP stole no money from VBS. The money was donated by a legitimate company from which we raised money,” he said.

The ANC was also linked to VBS. In 2018, former ANC Treasurer General Paul Mashatile confirmed they received a R2 million donation from Vele Investments, owners of VBS.

However, Sunday World recently reported that the ANC said it could only find records of R100,000 paid to the party by VBS Mutual Bank.

ANC treasurer general Dr Gwen Ramokgopa told Sunday World Engage that the party’s probe into the R2-million donation could only find records of a R100 000 donation from VBS.