UPDATE: Is this letter in which EFF members confront Malema over VBS Bank real?

An anonymous source on Thursday forwarded The Citizen a letter that is currently being circulated. The letter claims to be from two EFF members, Hlengiwe Hlophe-Maxon and Leigh-Ann Mathys, and is addressed to the organisation’s leader, Julius Malema.

The letter appears to be an attempt on the part of these two EFF members to address the damning allegations that surfaced yesterday – that the EFF had received R1.3 million from VBS Bank.

First, a report commissioned by Treasury called The Great Bank Heist was released. Looking into the alleged looting of VBS Bank and compiled by advocate Terry Motau and assisted by Werksmans Attorneys, the report implicated the EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu’s brother Brian as one of the more than 50 people who “gratuitously” received money from VBS Bank.

Then, the Daily Maverick released an investigative report revealing that not only had Shivambu himself received as much as R10 million of the R16 million allegedly sent to Brian, but that the party’s bank account had received R1.3 million.

READ MORE: EFF allegedly received R1.3m in VBS loot directly – report

The EFF has not yet publicly confronted the allegations.

The letter begins by addressing the EFFs past history of confronting corruption.

“Our organization has been vocal about fighting corruption and we have unapologetically pushed for the downfall of people with clouds of corruption hanging over their heads,” it says.

It then briefly cites some examples of the party addressing corruption, which have included the laying of “charges against the Gupta family, including its companies and associates, as well as Duduzane Zuma”, the time Shivambu himself said “good riddance” to Brian Molefe following his resignation, and the releasing of “a statement on the 16th of February 2018 welcoming the resignation of Koko from Eskom and fearlessly labelling him as corrupt”.

READ MORE: Shivambu’s brother allegedly pocketed R16m from VBS Bank

The letter then calls for consistency in the party’s policy on corruption and suggests the following path of action:

“1) The Central Command Team go to the nearest police station to lay charges of fraud and corruption against all who are listed in the report.

2) The Central Command Team suspend membership of all those who are members of the organisation and listed in the report. And disciplinary processes must take place, if found guilty [members should] be expelled from the organization.

3) Any funding ever received by EFF from any person listed in the report, that money must be paid back [immediately] to VBS through the SARB appointed administrator. Our TG Commisar Leigh-Ann has [a] report on that and we can pay back the money ASAP.

4) If there are any other members of EFF, including the Central Command Team members, who benefitted directly or indirectly from the fraud and corruption activities at VBS, those people must be suspended with immediate effect. And disciplinary processes must take place, if found guilty [members should] be expelled from the organization.”

UPDATE: The Citizen earlier reported that it seemed extremely suspicious that the letter would have been circulated publicly rather than internally, and in the letter, the two purported authors sign off with “Comradely yours” which also seems suspicious.

EFF communications manager Sixo Gcilishe has since contacted us, saying “it’s not true.”

But if the letter is fake, it is currently unclear what the motivation behind writing it and circulating it would be.

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