CAPE TOWN – Vele Investments' former chief executive, Robert Madzonga, said that he worked for the money he received from scandal-hit VBS Mutual Bank and Vele Investments.
Vele Investments is VBS’s largest shareholder.
Madzonga was speaking to 702’s Bruce Whitfield, on his radio show, “The Money Show”.
To be clear VBS is one of the subsidiaries of Vele investments, according to Madzonga.
Vele first invested in VBS in 2017.
When asked whether it was always the intention to rob VBS, Madzonga said that “no, there has never been an intention to rob the bank, from Vele’s point of view”.
Whitfield wanted to know more about the ‘Kingpin of this Catastrophe’ as he put it, the founder and chairperson of Vele Investments, Tshifhiwa Matodzi.
Madzonga said he could only comment on the forensic report by Advocate Terry Motau.
There was some damning evidence in the report on Matodzi but Madzonga was clear that he would wait for Matodzi to comment.
Whitfield then asked Madzonga about the R30 million benefit he received from VBS, as stated in the report.
Madzonga said he had always co-operated with authorities and with investigators.
He said worked for both Vele and VBS and worked hard for that money.
He was, in fact, the acting chief operating officer (COO) of VBS bank but was removed for not having the "right credentials".
Motau’s report said that Madzonga was the acting COO for only a month (between May and June 2016).
The report further said that Madzonga still, however, received a salary in September and October.
Madzonga also got his R300 000 per month salary he received from Vele Investments, on top of these payments.
Madzonga said that he was not at the bank when the irregularities happened and in fact, the COO at the time should have seen what was happening.
“I think that the report is clear… the report pointed at the non-executive directors who manipulated the system, who paid themselves bonuses.”
There are people who have confessed to their actions, Madzonga said.
People should not be found guilty of assumptions. Madzonga seemed to point to himself at this point of the interview.
Whitfield then asked Madzonga: “If it was found that money you received through ill-gotten gains like the Vhavenda king, would you be willing to do the same” and pay back the money.
Madzonga said that he will pay back any money that was not a salary, a bonus or a directors fee that comes from his subsidiaries.
He told Advocate Motau that if he received any money, that did not fall in these requirements, then he is guilty.
He maintains that he is innocent and worked for the money he received.
The interview ended over time constraints.