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The deserted VBS Thohoyandou Branch. Last week the bank retrenched 100 employees.

Hundred jobs shed as VBS saga continues

 

As more and more of the VBS Mutual Bank’s scandals surface every day, the ordinary people are the ones who suffer. Last week it was announced that 100 people working at the bank would lose their jobs.

In a press release, the bank’s curator announced that the staff complement would be reduced to 26 people. The manner in which the 26 available positions were filled was also explained. “The implication of the retrenchment is that retrenched staff members will receive a retrenchment package comprising of notice pay, severance pay and accumulated leave,” said Ms Louise Brugman, spokesperson for the curator.

Last Wednesday, the SA Reserve Bank’s report on VBS Mutual Bank was also made public. This report, entitled The Great Bank Heist, details the events leading to the bank’s fall to shame and mentions the various people and businesses who allegedly took part in the looting. The report also made it clear that it would be virtually impossible to try and save the bank. Roughly R1,9 billion had been lost in the looting spree.

On Friday, staff at the Thohoyandou branch received a visit from the curator, who told them it was their last day at work.

Mr Collen Ndou (32), who worked as a sales consultant at the bank for ten years, said while they were still coming to terms with the bad news, they received letters of retrenchment. “I am confused. I have a bond and a car to pay. I have children who are still going to school and a family to look after. Life will be an uphill struggle for me and my family from now on,” he said.

Even though most of the “small depositors” have been able to recover their money deposited at the mutual bank, the big depositors and the municipalities may have to write off the debt and move on. This is especially devastating news for the Limpopo municipalities involved who desperately need to recover the money that was supposed to have gone into service-delivery projects.

Since Advocate Terry Motau’s report was released last week, the question on the lips of many people has been: “When are heads going to roll?” The report more than ruffled the feathers of political parties and officials. It explained in detail how the mutual bank was hijacked and used to bankroll individuals, companies and, apparently, even royal houses. It also mentions the name of prominent politicians, such as the ANC’s provincial treasurer, Danny Msiza, who is described as the kingpin of the so-called “commission agent scheme”.

The alleged involvement of the mayor of the Vhembe District Municipality, Cllr Florence Radzilani, caused a WhatsApp storm last week. A conversation between the then chairman of VBS, Tshifhiwa Matodzi, and Kabelo Matsepe, described as “a politically connected fixer”, was published in the report. In this conversation, the audacity of the persons accepting bribes was apparently reaching peak level, with complaints that the municipal officials were getting more money than the politicians.

The WhatsApp discussion on 20 December 2017 was allegedly as follows:

“The Mayor of Vhembe is crying she says we must give her and the speaker a Christmas because they are the ones who are making sure we keep that money for six months. We gave her 300k and she cried and said we gave juniors R1.5 million and we give her 300k…”

Matodzi apparently conceded that they would have to make adjustments. “Go ahead … But she must know the formula”. Matsepe then calculated that it would amount to R2,3 million, but suggested she be given only half of that.

Since last week, several of the people implicated in the report have released press statements professing their innocence as well as their outrage at being implicated in corruption without having an opportunity to state their side of the story. Msiza attributed it to a smear campaign over a “prolonged period”.

“The segment of the report as it relates to me is therefore not puzzling, but a logical culmination of a sustained political smear with no shred of empirical evidence of wrong doing. My name is being drawn into this sad episode based purely on untested allegations, gossips, baseless observations and communication by external parties without my knowledge,” Msiza writes.

Msiza joined people like Brian Shivambu, brother of the EFF deputy-president Floyd Shivambu, in criticising the way the report was used to “name and shame” people. Both Msiza and Shivambu indicated that they would pursue legal action and file defamation claims.

The Vhembe District Municipality, whose mayor Cllr Florence Radzilani is implicated in the report, have not yet come up with a position. “We have the report and we are studying it. As a municipality we are still going to sit down and hopefully we will come up with a position very soon,” said Mr Matodzi Ralushai, the municipality’s spokesperson.

“I am not going to give comment now except to say that my legal representatives are busy studying the report. I will then comment at the right time when they are done; but for now, I am not going to comment,” said Radzilani this week.

The name of Vhavenda King Toni Mphephu Ramabulana features prominently in the report. Several companies linked to Ramabulana allegedly received deposits and/or overdraft facilities from VBS. These include Makuya (R1 million and R900 000), Mafunzwaini (R500 000 and R460 000), Dzata Trust (R9 million and R8,5 million) and the Vhavenda Heritage Trust (R1 million and R2 million). Testimony was also given that Ramabulana received an “investment” at VBS of R8 million.

Ramabulana’s spokesperson, Advocate Makonde Mathivha, said on Thursday in a radio interview that they had received the report and were still busy studying it. He said they would issue a statement after understanding the contents of the report.

On Sunday, Ramabulana released an “open letter to Vhavenda people” in which he points out that, in the Motau report, his name is not linked to any criminal activities. The report describes the payment to him of over R17 million as “gratuitous payment”. Ramabulana denied that such an amount was ever paid to him.

“In my capacity as king of the Vhavenda people, I receive various grants including financial support from various individuals and entities,” said Ramabulana. He denied being aware of any of the criminal activities at VBS, as pointed out in the report. “I irrevocably offer to repay any amount which will be shown to have been proceeds of the illegalities in the report as soon (as) they are computed,” said Ramabulana.

A question on the lips of many local taxpayers the past few months has been: “How much did our municipalities lose?” The SARB report is not too clear on this. A list is published of the amounts owed to municipalities and, according to this list, the Makhado Municipality is owed R62 734 416. The “Limpopo Municipality”, which probably refers to the Collins Chabane Municipality, had invested R122 410 521. Interestingly enough, the Vhembe District Municipality has a negative balance of R2 977, which effectively means the municipality owes VBS almost R3 000. Initially, Vhembe District Municipality was reported to have invested R311 million in VBS.

 

 

Date:18 October 2018

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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