Today, the DA marched to the Office of the Premier of Limpopo and submitted a memorandum demanding that Premier, Stan Mathabatha, immediately act against all individuals who have been implicated in the VBS Mutual Bank heist.

The majority of the municipalities which illegally invested billions in VBS are in Limpopo.

Municipalities such as Vhembe, Elias Motsoaledi, Greater Giyani, Fetakgomo-Tubatse and Makhado have been placed at serious risk of losing municipal funds that were supposed to be spent on speeding up service delivery to residents.

“What makes matters worse is that this money is now essentially lost and there will be no bailouts for the implicated municipalities. This has serious consequences for residents in the affected municipalities as service delivery could become stagnant,” says Gana.

Residents in Limpopo are already suffering from failed service delivery.  In Fetakgomo-Tubatse, Limpopo, water shortages continue despite ANC election promises. The municipality illegally invested a shocking R245 million into VBS Bank – and it is becoming clear that this money will not all be recovered. Service providers are likely to go unpaid, and there is no funding for capital projects.

Gana explained that “these municipalities continued to invest in VBS despite a directive from National Treasury warning against this practice. Yet, in typical ANC government fashion, these municipalities ignored warnings and flouted the law and abused public money in return for financial kickbacks”.

The Municipal Financial Management Act (MFMA) made it illegal for municipalities to invest in risky, non-commercial banks like VBS.

“Whenever there is a choice between providing services and enriching cadres, the ANC will always choose to loot money that is meant for the people. Worse they continue to protect corrupt cadres instead of protecting ordinary citizens”, Gana says.

“Today, the DA had a national day of action against VBS. We marched to municipalities across the country and  to the Limpopo Premier’s Office to demand that they do the right thing and suspend all public representatives and top ANC officials implicated in the VBS heist.”

“The ANC, and indeed the EFF, have been implicated in this scandal and have refused to take action against those in their ranks. The DA is the only party who have come out in support of the countless poor South Africans who have been affected by this heist”, says Gana.

The DA is committed to building One South Africa for All by fighting corruption at every level of government. We will make sure that public money meant for the people is spent on just that: service delivery for all South Africans, not just the politically-connected few.

 

Issued by DA