EFF confident in deputy leader over VBS allegations

South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters party “has no reason to doubt” its deputy leader after a report found his brother received gratuitous payments from the collapsed VBS Mutual Bank, EFF leader Julius Malema said.

A central bank-commissioned report into the lender’s collapse, authored by advocate Terry Motau, found that at least 53 people and companies may have benefited from the looting of R1.9 billion ($133 million) from the South African lender before its failure. Among the biggest recipients of funds from VBS was Brian Shivambu, the brother of Floyd Shivambu, the deputy president of the opposition EFF, according to the report. He received R16 million, it stated.

Floyd Shivambu “has taken the EFF leadership into confidence in relation to VBS media claims and we have no reason to doubt him, more so because he is not mentioned in the official Motau VBS report,” Malema told reporters Tuesday in Johannesburg. “If Floyd has stolen money, he will be punished accordingly. Give me something that demonstrates that Floyd benefited.”

All those who the authorities find have benefited illegally from the bank’s collapse must be criminally prosecuted, Malema said.