Officials wash hands off saga

Mayor’s voice recording on VBS crisis goes viral

People who were deployed to oversee the affairs of Limpopo municipalities are now distancing themselves from the embattled VBS Mutual Bank saga.

Yesterday, following a Limpopo provincial government executive committee (PEC) meeting, government spokesperson Phuti Seloba condemned the recent public remarks by mayors who claimed to have no knowledge when municipalities invested millions of public funds in VBS.

On Sunday, mayor of Vhembe district Florence Radzilani said she never had any contact with those people mentioned in the VBS forensic report and she did not even know the employees of the bank.

“I have never been in a meeting where I arranged to get money from VBS. The resolution to invest municipality money was taken by council in 2012 and [the] chief financial officer and municipal manager should take responsibility,” said Radzilani in a voice recording that went viral on social media recently.

Radzilani said the municipality invested the money without her acknowledge.

Seloba said yesterday: “Here you have information that your municipality has deposited so much money into VBS but you don’t even know. This is about leadership and accountability, then failure to do that, he or she should vacate the position,” he said.

Seloba said government was aware of the serious financial challenges facing LepelleNkumpi, Fetakgomo, and Giyani municipalities due to millions invested in VBS and government will do everything in its power to intervene.

“It is true that this reckless investment is seriously affecting service delivery in various communities. In so far as VBS

and municipalities that invested with the bank is concerned, it is acknowledged that while investigations are under way, the impact on governance, labour relations, service delivery and ultimate stability requires attention,” Seloba said.

On Tuesday, the ANC PEC members met where they resolved that they would not tolerate criminal and unethical behaviour from members arising from the VBS scandal, irrespective of the leadership positions they occupied.

“A decision was taken to refer the VBS report to the National Integrity Commission for immediate consideration,” a PEC statement read.

Meanwhile, the South African Council of Churches (SACC) has called for the VBS Mutual Bank looters to be arrested.