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Six years after the DA laid criminal charges against the EFF’s Floyd Shivambu and Julius Malema over allegations of corruption and industrial scale looting of the now defunct VBS bank, SAPS has failed to provide any updates on the status of their investigations. For this reason, the DA has taken a decision to refer SAPS’s inaction to the Police Portfolio Committee for oversight.

We have written to the Police Portfolio Committee Chair, Ian Cameron, requesting that he summons SAPS to appear before the committee and explain why there has been no progress into the charges that were laid against Malema and Shivambu in 2018 over VBS.

SAPS has dragged its feet on this issue and by doing so, allowed the serious allegations of corruption against Shivambu and Malema to go untested. The police service is supposed to conduct itself without fear or favor but its silence on this issue is sending the wrong message in the fight against corruption and embezzlement.

The witness statement provided by Tshifhiwa Matodzi, the man at the center of the VBS scandal, shows that there is prima facie evidence that Shivambu and Malema took part in a brazen plot to defraud VBS bank and its vulnerable clients for self-enrichment purposes. They are alleged to have gone out of their way to not only defraud VBS bank but to use the proceeds obtained therewith to fund their lavish lifestyles and procure properties. This brazen theft left in its wake a trail of destruction as senior citizens lost their pensions and bank clients their savings.

As public representatives, Members of Parliament should conduct themselves with integrity and ethical probity. The fact that Shivambu and Malema used their party, the EFF, as a leverage for corrupt rent seeking purposes at VBS has significant bearing on the credibility of Parliament and its standing as a law-making institution.

We cannot allow the trust deficit between South Africans and this institution to widen because of those who do not conduct themselves with integrity.

As a party for the rule of law, the DA remains focused on our commitment to fight corruption and holding public office holders to the highest level of ethical conduct. Corruption is not a victimless crime - vulnerable members of society are left destitute and forced to contend with abject poverty.

In light of the serious allegations raised in the VBS matter, it is imperative that the alleged corruption that took place is rigorously investigated and those responsible are held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.

For this reason, we call on the Parliament Portfolio Committee on Police to use its oversight function to get to the bottom of why SAPS has failed to conclude its investigations on the charges that were laid by the DA in 2018. Public representatives must not hide behind the cloak of Parliament when there are serious allegations of corruption hanging over their heads.

Issued by Baxolile Nodada MP - Deputy Chief Whip of the Democratic Alliance