Vhembe mayor accused of 'passing the blame' in VBS heist scandal

Published Oct 19, 2018

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Cape Town - Vhembe Executive Mayor Florence Radzilani has insisted that there is no wrongdoing in the municipality's deposits with VBS mutual bank, said the Democratic Alliance (DA).

Radzilani was called on to clarify her involvement in the VBS Mutual Bank scandal during a Special Council Meeting on Friday. 

Radzilani is one of numerous people implicated in the scandal.

According to the DA, she "absolved herself" of responsibility with regard to VBS.

"It is sad to see the mayor continue to pass on the blame and fail to account or take responsibility despite the severity of the impact the VBS scandal has had on VBS clients and residents of the municipality.

"The extent of rot is characterised by continued reluctance of the ANC-led Vhembe District Municipality to take decisive consequence management actions against the Mayor, Municipal Manager and Chief Financial Officer despite contravening the Municipal Financial Management Act (MFMA) by depositing with the bank," said DA Limpopo Premier Candidate, Jacques Smalle.

An independent report into the collapse of VBS named 50 people and entities that "gratuitously" received cash from the mutual bank over a three year period commencing from March 2015.

The report commissioned by the South African Reserve Bank found that there was "wide-scale looting and pillaging of the monies placed on deposit at VBS". 

The nearly R2 billion money looted included clients' life savings and deposits, including millions of rands deposited by municipalities, even though the Public Finance Management Act does not permit depositing public funds into a mutual bank. The report said the deposits were made in exchange for bribes.

IOL and African News Agency

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