The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Thursday welcomed the speed with which parliament's joint committee on ethics and members' interests responded to calls for an investigation into Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) deputy president Floyd Shivambu. 

Shivambu has denied receiving R10-million from his brother Brian, after the latter was paid R16-million by the bank for doing consultancy work for Vele Investments the majority shareholder in the failed VBS Mutual Bank.

The DA said in a statement the ethics committee had confirmed on Wednesday that it would investigate Shivambu's possible conflict of interest over payments that he received from his brother Shivambu in the VBS scandal.

The DA urged the ethics committee to act with speed in its investigation of the EFF leader.

"We call on the Ethics Committee to conduct a hearing and it be open to the public given the public interest in the matter, and to as per the Code of Conduct," it said.

"We look forward to the investigation, and if any wrongdoing found, the harshest sanction be meted out against Shivambu on behalf of the thousands of poor people whose money was stolen in the VBS Heist."