‘No reason’ to suspect VBS would be looted
Deputy minister says regulators do not keep daily tabs on operations
Deputy Finance Minister Mondli Gungubele says there was no reason for regulatory authorities to have suspected early on that the doomed VBS Mutual Bank would be brazenly looted. “Many of the board members of VBS are chartered accountants, lawyers or other professionals. It is with good reason that the Treasury and the Reserve Bank were of the view that VBS was under good hands,” Gungubele said during an urgent ANCsponsored debate on VBS on Tuesday in parliament.
Deputy finance minister Mondli Gungubele says there was no reason for regulatory authorities to have suspected early on that the doomed VBS Mutual Bank would be brazenly looted.
“Many of the board members of VBS are chartered accountants, lawyers or other professionals. It is with good reason that Treasury and the Reserve Bank were of the view that VBS was under good hands,” Gungubele said during an urgent ANC-sponsored debate on VBS on Tuesday in parliament.
During the debate, opposition parties suggested that the Treasury and Reserve Bank were too slow to act despite early signs that something was amiss. “Banks are regulated to protect depositors … [regulatory authorities] do not manage banks on a day-to-day basis,” he said.
Gungubele said, however, the Reserve Bank had in 2017 flagged VBS as high risk after it grew rapidly in three years. Both internal and external auditors had ignored the looting. “There is nothing black about this, this is theft … it’s criminal. There is no worse way to insult black excellence [than] associating black people with what has happened at VBS. It has nothing to do with black excellence and has everything to do with thuggery.”
In March, the Reserve Bank placed VBS under curatorship after it faced a liquidity crisis. Several senior provincial ANC officials were named in The Great Bank Heist forensic report commissioned by the Reserve Bank. It detailed how some of SA’s poorest municipalities and elderly clients lost close to R2bn after their deposits were used to fund the lavish lifestyles of individuals linked to the bank.
Opening the debate, ANC MP Thandi Tobias said that VBS management seemed to be involved in a “self-destruction mission”. “We are not saying ‘save the criminals ’… the criminals must be arrested. We as ANC cannot be perceived to be condoning corruption,” she said.
DA MP and finance spokesperson David Maynier said “this debate is a desperate attempt to divert attention away from the role of the governing party in [the] ‘grand bank heist’.
“Although Treasury and the Reserve Bank acted, they acted too late.” EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu said his party never benefited from the bank and called for those involved to be prosecuted. IFP MP Mkhuleko Hlengwa said the Reserve Bank ignored the looting while UDM MP Nqabayomzi Kwankwa said there is a culture of impunity in the government and state-owned entities. COPE leader Mosiuoa Lekota said the ANC’s decision to sponsor the debate “smacks of hypocrisy”.