VBS looting saga | Separate trial ruling set for Friday

The Pretoria High Court will decide tomorrow whether ANC Limpopo leaders, Danny Msiza and Kabelo Matsepe, will be granted a separate trial from their co-accused in the VBS Bank looting saga.

The two are challenging their arrest and don’t want to be trialled with their co-accused.

Thirteen people, including Msiza and Matsepe, are currently on trial for their alleged roles in stealing over R1.9 billion from the now defunct mutual bank, mostly from elderly clients.

Matsepe and Msiza were implicated as key figures in the looting following an explosive affidavit by former VBS boss turned state witness, Tshifhiwa Matodzi.

They are accused of coercing municipality officials to invest with VBS and siphoning off the money.

The looting affected many ordinary South Africans, including the elderly, who were defrauded of their life savings.

Matodzi’s affidavit also named senior politicians, including EFF leader, Julius Malema, and former Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, who allegedly benefited from the looting.

Both have denied the claims.

Outside the Pretoria High Court yesterday, a small group of DA protesters demanded accountability.

DA Deputy Chief Whip in Parliament, Baxolile Nodada, accused the SAPS of delaying the investigation, referencing the DA’s 2018 charges against Floyd Shivambu and Malema for allegedly accepting R1.8 million from VBS.

Nodada emphasised the need to hold politicians accountable for taking money from vulnerable communities.

“We need to make sure that the politicians who are implicated in taking money from the poor and vulnerable, their pensions, their life savings… also are held accountable,” he told YNews. Written by Naomi Kobbie