EFF leader Malema shrugs off VBS allegations
Julius Malema and his deputy are said to have been paid a lump sum of R5 million and received R1 million monthly at the behest of Matodzi in exchange of not speaking badly about VBS bank during public engagements.
FILE: EFF leaders Julius Malema addressed thousands of supporters at FNB stadium on 29 July 2023 as the party celebrated 10 years in existence. Picture: Rejoice Ndlovu/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - As more details of the VBS Mutual Bank collapse are revealed, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)'s Julius Malema, who has been placed inside the looting saga by the now defunct bank’s former chairperson, Tshifhiwa Matodzi, has seemingly shrugging away the allegations.
Malema, in a social media post of himself in a tuxedo on X, told his supporters to refer to the archives for answers.
The leader of the red berets and his deputy are said to have been paid a lump sum of R5 million and received R1 million monthly at the behest of Matodzi in exchange of not speaking badly about the bank during public engagements.
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Matodzi, for his part in the grand corruption, has been jailed for 15 years.
VBS Mutual Bank has once again come back to haunt those claimed to have played a role in its collapse, this time through a leaked affidavit by its former chairperson, Matodzi.
Matodzi has implicated several leaders, including Malema and his deputy, the SACP in Gauteng through its secretary, Jacob mamabolo, the powerful former ANC Limpopo treasurer, Danny Msiza, former ANC Treasurer-General Zweli Mkhize and former director-general at Treasury, Dondo Mogajane, who has since denied the claims, instead saying he worked to bring an end to the VBS looting.
Analyst Lukhona Mguni said that the leaked affidavit should be seen as the first compelling form of evidence taken under oath.
He saod it was now up to law enforcement authorities to test the allegations.
"I think now the ball is squarely in the court of the National Prosecuting Authority, in terms of what it must decide to do with the emerging information, see whether or not it was a wide criminal network or some people simply benefitted."
The EFF, much like when the allegations were first made, has said little to nothing in the public domain.
But its leader, Malema, said that those who wanted answers must revisit archived material.