Limpopo shutdown looms as unions demand resignations in VBS scandal

Nine of Limpopo’s 25 municipalities may come to a standstill on Friday as the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) plan to put pressure on the ANC to axe cadres deployed linked to the VBS Mutual Bank scandal.

The following municipalities may be affected: Lepelle Nkumpi, Collins Chabane, Fetakgomo, Elias Motsoaledi, Ephraim Mohale, Makhado, Vhembe district, Giyani and Tubatse in Burgersfort.

In a joint statement, Cosatu and Samwu yesterday told The Citizen that they want ANC deputy provincial chair Florence Radzilani, party treasurer Danny Msiza and SA Communist Party provincial secretary Gilbert Kganyago, together with municipal managers and mayors implicated in the irregular investment of R1.5 billion in VBS, to resign.

The two unions announced that about 9 000 hawkers, municipal employees, stokvel society members, retrenched VBS employees, the ANC’s Women’s League and Youth League members, plus people who invested in the bank, were expected to take part in a protest march.

Samwu deputy provincial secretary Ronald Mani yesterday claimed: “There will be no services rendered on Friday in the affected municipalities.

“People who want municipal services such as paying for electricity and water bills would have to do so by Thursday, the deadline.

“We had hoped that ANC Limpopo chairperson and Premier Stan Mathabatha would take action soon after the release of the Great Bank Heist report by the SA Reserve Bank.”

Also concerned yesterday was Cosatu provincial secretary Gerald Twala, who echoed Mani’s call for dismissals or resignations.

“We want them gone before Friday. But as our last option, we call on the national leadership of the ANC, which we elected in Nasrec in December, to recall them. That is why our protest marches are taking place on the sidelines of the special NEC meeting on Friday.”

Msiza and Radzilani’s implication in the VBS scandal has divided the ANC in Limpopo.

Last week, the youth and the women’s leagues also called for the immediate resignation or dismissal of mayors and all those implicated.

Msiza has since vowed to challenge the report in court, distancing himself from any dodgy dealings with VBS.

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