Johannesburg - EFF leader Julius Malema says the party will write to all Cabinet ministers on Monday to ask whether they had loans or mortgage bonds with the doomed VBS Bank.
Addressing the party’s manifesto consultation assembly with black professionals in Sandton, Johannesburg, on Friday night, Malema claimed that several ministers had bonds with VBS, which was liquidated earlier this month.
Malema said their names were found in VBS’s loan book but were warned to move them to mainstream banks before the investigation that found widespread looting was completed.
He also took aim at the collapse of VBS, saying the bank should never have been shut down and those responsible for looting it arrested.
”Don’t close the VBS, arrest the criminals. Save the bank of the people, let’s perfect it,” Malema said.
The EFF has asked for a transcript of the investigation into VBS, says Malema. The EFF believes there is a plot to silence it using the VBS scandal and allegations that the party received money from the bank.
EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu’s brother Brian was found to have received over R16 million in gratuitous payments from the bank’s biggest shareholder Vele Investments.
Malema said the EFF had asked parliamentary questions to all ministers to find out if their children did business with the government.
According to Malema, 11 ministers responded and revealed that their offspring had done business with the government and netted over R100 million in contracts.
Malema also repeated claims the party has made against Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, this time revealing that they have his bank account number.
He said black people who own businesses should not commit the same injustices which they accuse of white-owned companies.
“That which you don’t want whites to do, you must not do as well,” Malema said.
EFF national chairperson Dali Mpofu said that the party valued their input.
“This is not a gimmick. In January or February we will release our manifesto,” he said, adding that their input would be incorporated into the document.
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