"x" Julius Malema
Former chairman of the Venda Building Society (VBS) Mutual Bank Tshifhiwa Matodzi has alleged that Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leaders Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu looted R16.1m from the struggling bank.
The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria this week sentenced Matodzi to 495 years for his role in the looting of the bank.
As part of an agreement, he pleaded guilty to all 33 charges and the sentence was reduced to 15 years.
A leaked 263-page witness statement with annexures, apparently signed by Matodzi on 10 July as part of his plea deal, alleged that Malema and Shivambu were paid not to use the EFF’s political muscle against VBS Mutual Bank.
Malema and Shivambu knew the funds they received from VBS were unlawful, Matodzi claims, because they created a front company called Sgameka Projects.
Malema took to "X" shortly after the allegations surfaced
For any inquiries, please refer to the archives for answers. pic.twitter.com/oCak9cN7Iu
— Julius Sello Malema (@Julius_S_Malema) July 12, 2024
Court sentences former VBS boss Tshifhiwa Matodzi to 495 years
Matodzi claims there was no legitimate business reason for the payments.
Malema and Shivambu allegedly told him they needed money for their restaurant in Soweto, adding that they tried to “regularise” the payments after the curatorship of VBS by backdating a contract that was never entered into.
“To my knowledge, Sgameka is a company owned by Brian Shivambu, a brother to Floyd Shivambu who is the deputy president of EFF. The company was provided to me by Floyd to make payments that I promised to EFF.
“I made this promise following the news which had broken in the media that VBS had granted President [Jacob] Zuma a home loan for his Nkandla residence. Negative publicity arose in the country, particularly from those who were opposed to Zuma at the time. Amongst those was the EFF, Matodzi said in his court papers.
The EFF was among the most vociferous critics of the VBS loan to Zuma.
