ANCYL wants VBS to be rescued

The ANC Youth League in Limpopo has called on the government to save VBS Mutual Bank and protect an institution which it states is a “people’s bank”. The ANCYL also made a call on law enforcement bodies to bring the perpetrators to book who had allegedly looted the bank.

“The bank should be saved, and our people should continue benefiting through housing bonds in rural areas and loans which the so-called commercial banks are failing to finance,” said Nyiko Bembani, the provincial spokesperson of the ANCYL.

Bembani said that VBS had been established to cater solely for ordinary people living in rural areas. “VBS Mutual Bank is the bank of the people and it was established by the hard-earned money of those very same people. Despite the allegations and controversy that have marred this institution, the bank previously improved the lives of the masses of our people,” he said.

The ANCYL is also very critical of the alleged looting of the bank, which the deputy governor of the SA Reserve Bank, Kuben Naidoo, described as the biggest bank fraud seen in South Africa. He described VBS as a Ponzi scheme. Roughly R1,5 billion was allegedly looted by senior staff members and directors of the bank.

“As the Youth League in the province, we are acknowledging that rogue elements have hijacked the bank’s good intentions … We are calling on our Government and law-enforcement agencies to come on board and ensure that harsh measures are taken against people who have been implicated in the VBS saga. South Africans must not tolerate misappropriation of funds that are meant to beneficiate our people,” said Bembani.

The Youth League called on society to stand up and fight for the survival of the bank. “The people’s bank cannot be donated to vultures and opportunists whose aim is to collapse the bank and steal the mutual bank for selfish and narrow purposes,” he said.

The ANCYL believes that VBS has been a catalyst in rural development and has assisted with development in many villages in the Vhembe region. “We have resolved to rally behind the institutions that are supporting the rural development and economic growth. We believe that VBS has done that for years until wrong elements landed their hands into the bank’s coffers,” said Bembani. The Youth League is also concerned that hundreds of people will lose their jobs if VBS goes under.

The past weekend, it was reported that the Limpopo government, and more specifically the Limpopo Economic Development Agency (LEDA), planned on taking over the embattled mutual bank. Reference was made in national newspapers that the issue was discussed by the province’s top six ANC representatives during a meeting held at the Makhado Royal Council last Monday. It was reported that the recommendation was that the bank be converted into a Limpopo provincial government bank, run and operated by the Limpopo Economic Development Agency.

This was vehemently denied by the ANC, describing it as “void of any truth”. The provincial secretary of the ANC, Donald Selamolela, said in a statement that the meeting held last week was not to discuss VBS mutual bank. “We discussed a variety of issues that have been discharged by the special council, which include VBS, (but) it was not discussed in isolation,” he said. He said that the ANC in the province had made it clear that it believed the bank must be saved as it served the purpose of transformation in the financial sector.

Kevin Mileham, the Democratic Alliance’s shadow minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, said in a statement that the party viewed plans that would allow LEDA to take over VBS Mutual Bank as “a backhanded attempt by the ANC to continue looting.” Mileham said the same government that had once been under national administration now wanted a failed bank to be converted into a provincial government bank.

“The fact remains that the forensic investigation into the VBS scandal must be completed as a matter of urgency and should be done independently as this is the only way to ensure accountability,” he said.

Mileham said key members of the ANC’s provincial executive committee, such as Treasurer Danny Msiza and ANCYL Secretary David Selan, were directly implicated in the scandal. “Any attempt to move VBS under the control of the Limpopo provincial government would basically be giving them the keys to the vault and should not be considered,” he said.

News - Date: 17 August 2018

Tracy Ngobeni

Tracy Ngobeni is a 20-year-old intern who is doing her final year in journalism at Tsh­wane University of Technology. She was born and bred in Olifantshoek. She started her journalism career in 2017, after submitting her articles to the Record Noweto Newspaper in Pretoria. Her heart beats for print media because she believes that writing can heal reader's souls.

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