AfriForum, the civil rights organisation, has put its legal team to task to formulate charges of corruption, fraud and money laundering against Economic Freedom Fighters leaders Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu for their involvement in the VBS saga.

CASE TO BE OPENED SOON

AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said the charges will soon be lodged with the police. Kriel said that they’ve also requested Advocate Gerrie Nel and his team at AfriForum’s Private Prosecutions Unit to monitor the case and to put pressure on the prosecution process should it appear that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is dragging its feet. "Should the state, however, fail to prosecute Malema and Shivambu, AfriForum will consider private prosecution as an alternative," said Kriel.

HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE 

AfriForum’s decision follows revelations made in a statement last week by the former chairperson of VBS Mutual Bank, Tshifhiwa Matodzi, as part of his plea deal. Matodzi pleaded guilty to 33 charges, including corruption, theft and money laundering. He also revealed that the EFF received monthly donations and a so-called business loan of millions of Rands from VBS since 2017 through a front company, Sgameka Projects. He said that an amount of R5 million was originally paid, followed by monthly donations of R1 million and a R4 million loan. Matodzi’s statement claims that this money was paid to the EFF as a gratification to stop the party from criticising the bank for granting former President Jacob Zuma a R7.8m bond for his Nkandla homestead. He said in the statement that Malema and Shivambu, in their personal capacity, benefitted from these transactions.

ENOUGH TO PROSECUTE

AfriForum argued that Matodzi’s statement provides sufficient grounds for the NPA to obtain a preservation order on Malema and Shivambu’s assets. "The state’s failure to prosecute Malema for his part in the On Point Engineering corruption case has apparently given him the impression that he is untouchable and that he can simply continue with his involvement in alleged corrupt activities. That is why it is important that Malema and Shivambu are prosecuted for the plundering of VBS to send a very clear message that nobody is above the law," Kriel concludes.