DA to picket in Merafong over illegal VBS Bank investments

JOHANNESBURG – The opposition Democratic Alliance on Thursday said it would march outside Merafong city local municipality in protest against illegal investments into VBS Mutual Bank.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) placed VBS under curatorship earlier this year for taking deposits from municipalities in contravention of the Municipal Finance Act. The central bank said VBS was facing a liquidity crisis. 

DA shadow member of the executive committee for finance Adriana Randall said Merafong had illegally invested R50 million allocated for delivery of services with VBS, noting that the SARB had warned the money was most likely irrecoverable.

Randall said for the coming financial year Merafong, run by the ruling African National Congress, would have to present an unfunded budget, meaning that it would try to provide services and programmes with money it did not have to spend.

“The party has been warning for months that this lack of fiscal management would have a negative impact on the day-to-day running of the municipality and leave residents in the lurch,” said Randall.

– African News Agency (ANA)