Speaking to the standing committee on finance about the VBS Bank scandal, EFF spokesperson Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said, unsurprisingly, that he is “not persuaded” by Terry Motau’s report on the alleged looting of the bank, commissioned by the Reserve Bank.
He also aggressively confronted Motau himself, asking him a barrage of questions, one of which appeared to allege that Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan was involved in the report.
“Did you meet any individuals to discuss the report before its release? For example, Mr Pravin Gordhan, did you meet him to discuss the report or anyone on the treasury? If you did, what were the basis and what were the discussions?” he asked.
The report, The Great Bank Heist, reveals large-scale looting of the bank to the tune of R1.9 billion, implicating 53 people, one of which was EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu’s brother Brian. An article in The Daily Maverick that came out shortly afterwards alleged that Floyd himself had received around R10 million from his brother and the EFF had received R1.3 million.
READ MORE: ‘The Great Bank Heist’ report reveals wide-scale looting at VBS – report
Ndlozi said there was “too much fiction, employment of fiction, and hyperbole” in the report, which he says “really borders sometimes on compromising facts”.
“It doesn’t really read as a good legal document, in my view,” he continued.
“In a country where the financial sector is one of the most stubborn to transform, I don’t get out of the report the feeling that there is a way of holding institutions accountable in this space.”
He also hints at some kind of plot, or at least irregularities in the singling out of Brian Shivambu in the report.
“Why put the name Brian Shivambu if he has a company and his company has a legal persona in law? Other people are not named, it’s companies, but others are put in their individual capacity. What are we dealing with here?” he asks.
He then goes on to question several aspects of the report, including its legality.
READ MORE: Just how much money was Brian Shivambu left with?
“Imagine the implications when the court of law says this document has no legal standing and it must be set aside, what must the Hawks and all other legal institutions that relied on this report do?” he asks.
“Do you accept that if the report is successfully challenged in a court of law then you would have basically wasted time and money by not doing a thorough job and helping us to clamp down corruption and criminality?”
Motau responded to Ndlozi’s criticisms of the style of writing in the report by saying it was written for “ordinary people” and did not employ complex legal language.
Ndlozi hit back, calling it “patronising” to assume the poor can’t read complex documents, and accusing Motau of being “dishonest”.