- Tshifhiwa Matodzi, former VBS Mutual Bank chairperson, claimed in testimony that the EFF received monthly “donations” to clean up the bank’s bad reputation.
- Matodzi’s testimony implicated Floyd Shivambu and Julius Malema in receiving funds through Shivambu’s brother’s company, Sgameka.
- Shivambu and the EFF maintain the funds were loans, not donations.
Disgraced former VBS Mutual Bank chairperson Tshifhiwa Matodzi recently brought renewed scrutiny on Floyd Shivambu and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) through his testimony.
Calls for accountability amply after Tshifhiwa Matodzi VBS testimony resurfaces
Matodzi, who, this week, was sentenced to an effective 15 years in prison, revealed that the EFF received monthly “donations” to mitigate the negative publicity surrounding a controversial loan given to former president Jacob Zuma.
According to Matodzi, the arrangement was made to cleanse VBS Mutual Bank’s tarnished image.
Matodzi testified that he met with EFF leaders, including Julius Malema and Shivambu, to discuss the issue.
He claimed that the bank agreed to donate R5 million immediately and R1 million per month to the EFF.
These payments were allegedly funnelled through Sgameka, a company owned by Shivambu’s brother, Brian Shivambu, to obscure the connection to the party.
The testimony indicated that this arrangement was intended to be a covert method to protect the party from being directly linked to the bank.
Floyd Shivambu and EFF adamant any moneys he received were ‘loans’ not ‘donations’
The EFF and Floyd Shivambu have consistently denied any wrongdoing, asserting that the funds were loans and not donations.
The party argues that loans do not require disclosure under parliamentary rules, countering the findings of the Parliament’s Ethics Committee in October 2023.
The committee’s report accused Shivambu of violating the ethics code by failing to declare money received from VBS Mutual Bank.
It revealed that R180,000 was deposited into Shivambu’s account in August 2017 in three separate transactions.
Despite the committee’s findings, Shivambu and the EFF maintain that the transactions were legitimate loans from Sgameka Projects.
They argue that these funds were personal loans and therefore did not need to be declared to the Registrar of Members’ Interests in Parliament.
Matodzi’s testimony, however, paints a different picture.
He described multiple meetings with the Shivambu brothers to regularise the payments, creating contracts to justify the financial transfers as consulting fees for petroleum and storage facilities.
“I met Floyd and his younger brother Brian several times at Floyd’s residence in Bryanston. At one of the meetings myself, Floyd and Brian agreed to regularise the R5m and R1m monthly donations. It was agreed among us that we draft a contract between Vele and Sgameka for consulting work in petroleum and storage facilities. The signatories were myself representing Vele and Brian, who was representing Sgameka,” Matodzi revealed.
These revelations have reignited public calls for accountability and transparency within the EFF and among its leaders.
