No justice on the horizon for Venda grannies

“Sometimes we are forced to kiss dogs or [the] devil to get funding.”
— Julius Malema

Ek vra jou mos, ek vra jou mos
Ek vra jou mos so nice
Ek sê, hoekom blaf daai honne
By die hekke van paradise
— David Kramer

THERE aren't many realities I can't digest. I am a politically ennobled renegade with Africa's dust stripes on my cheeks. But when I asked Daily Maverick's gunslinger of an investigative journalist, Pauli van Wyk, if she thought Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu would eventually be called to account for their looting of VBS Mutual Bank and she replied with a sigh, “I doubt it”, my emotional pendulum swung from my normal melancholy to sour ass.

I am reminded of the case of On Point Engineering, a company linked to Malema which obtained government contracts worth R43 million in Limpopo. These contracts were allegedly used to channel money to Malema's Ratanang Family Trust. Former public protector Thuli Madonsela investigated and concluded that Malema benefited illegally from these provincial contracts.

Initially, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) presented charges against Malema and his associates in court. However, the case was struck off the roll in 2015 after one of the co-accused fell ill. To date, and despite evidence of financial misconduct, the NPA has done nothing to revive the charges against Malema.

For almost a decade, Malema and his political cronies have been threatening South Africans with expropriation of land without compensation, the nationalisation of mines and banks, and they have  spewed fire and brimstone against “whiteness". But in the meantime they have robbed the poorest of the poor and spent their spoils on horse racing, expensive restaurants and Gucci shoes.

Pillaging their own party

The public focus is currently on Malema and Shivambu's complicity in the bankruptcy of VBS Bank, once the Venda Building Society founded in 1982. But this is not the only “bank" the two gentlemen have abused and plundered to fund their luxurious lifestyle. And it is not only the poor of Limpopo, the province where Malema drank his mother's milk, whom the “commander in chief" of the EFF psychopathically stole from. He and his faithful dictatorial lieutenant Shivambu are also plundering their own political party, the EFF, on a massive scale.

Don't take my word for it; just pay attention to what one of the really brave warriors of the EFF spelt out in an affidavit after Malema used stolen money to take him to court for defamation. If you haven't come across his name in the media yet, meet Thembinkosi Terra Rawula. From 2014 to 2019, he was one of the national leaders of the EFF as a member of the central command team (CCT). On October 31, 2015, he was inaugurated as an EFF representative in the national legislature.

After a falling-out with Malema in April 2019, he resigned from the party and expressed himself as follows on Facebook: “During the political overview of Julius Malema at the most recent CCT meeting of the EFF, he admitted to taking VBS money to finance the revolution. In fact, he said, ‘Sometimes we are forced to kiss dogs or [the] devil to get funding'. The VBS money was done [sic] under the full knowledge of the leadership [of the EFF].” Rawula won the case against Malema and the court found that his testimony was probably correct. The question of whether Malema and Shivambu had stolen VBS money was answered then.

Dali Mpofu, SC, the EFF's greatest proof to South Africans that sometimes the law can be just too complicated, has probably finally read the judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeal in the case of Julius Malema vs. Thembinkosi Terra Rawula, and he admitted in the media last week that the EFF did receive a “donation" from the VBS chairperson, Tshifhiwa Matodzi. To date, Shivambu and Malema have denied this with foam at the mouth despite the court's ruling in favour of Rawula.

The ruling quotes from a handwritten affidavit by Zolile Rodger Xalisa, a member of the EFF's CCT, the so-called war council and the national legislature, in which he confirmed Rawula's account of the meeting. “On 5-6 February, 2019, the CCT convened its ordinary meeting of the term. The president and the CIC of the EFF during the political overview made an admission that the EFF had received donations from VBS, which is the subject of corruption. He said that no capitalist or government is willing to support a revolutionary movement like EFF, so VBS saw an opportunity that the EFF could be in government, it could assist to ensure that it thrives better [sic]”. The judge made the point that there is no real reason to doubt Rawula's recollections of the day's events and that Xalisa's statement confirmed his version.

It is known that Malema and Shivambu plundered the salaries of the EFF's elected members in legislatures in the run-up to elections. Councillors and EFF members in provincial legislatures are forced to arrange buses at their own expense to transport local branch members to rallies, where Malema and senior members of the party live the lie that the EFF is supported by massive and seditious masses. Party members have been fired because they did not have the money to pay for the buses.

This is on top of the roughly R7,000 that EFF members of parliament have to hand over to the party every month. The EFF has about 800 local councillors who have to pay more than R2,000 of their net salaries to the EFF every month.

No annual reports, auditors or oversight 

According to Rawula's statement, the EFF received no less than R25 million every quarter from national and provincial legislators for constituency and caucus funds. The constituency funds were intended to assist legislature members with logistical arrangements such as accommodation and transport.

But, explained Rawula, “all this money is centralised in the EFF under the control, abuse and dictatorship of Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu". These two leaders had made it clear: “This is our organisation and you joined us, not the other way around."

Rawula said that contrary to Treasury rules, Malema and Shivambu converted the allocation to the EFF into cash by using service providers who inflated  invoices — for liquor, legal fees and security companies' services — “by up to 250% so that they personally ended up getting away with 150% of the increased cost”.

Since 2014, no financial reports had been tabled at CCT meetings. Rawula stated in his court documents that when he and others asked questions about this they were reprimanded, treated with contempt and threatened with removal from parliament. What Rawula resented was that the other members of the EFF's management were simply forced to live with the reality of these two corrupt leaders. There were no annual reports, no auditors and no oversight. According to Rawula, the treasurer-general of the EFF, Leigh-Ann Mathys, in reality only managed the “petty cash". Malema and Shivambu took control of the accounts.

Also, the VBS Bank money, about R10 million, which Malema and Shivambu spent on themselves, a restaurant in Soweto in which they have interests and at the Durban July, was never reflected in EFF bank accounts. The restaurant is called SUD and is run by Tsholo Malema, a cousin of Julius. Several investigative journalists have linked the financing of this restaurant to money looted from VBS Bank via front companies. Rawula claimed in court documents that Malema and Shivambu still wanted the EFF to accept responsibility collectively for the money they spent on themselves and their wives and families.

The consequences of VBS Bank's collapse for the poor, the elderly and the informal economy of Limpopo have already been spelt out in a forensic investigation (“The Great Bank Heist") commissioned by the Reserve Bank from Terry Motau, SC, and the law firm Werksmans Attorneys. The investigative media, among others Van Wyk, played an important role in revealing the extent of the scandal and the involvement of various political figures in spending booty on drink, carousing and horse racing.

Van Wyk tells of her experiences with two disempowered women from Limpopo who initially lost all their money, but for whom there was finally some relief thanks to the Treasury and the taxpayer. A maximum of R100,000 was made available to all those who lost money in the scandal.

Vetkoek for pension

The stories of loss and abandonment make your blood boil.

“Piet, I sat with some of those aunties, some of them had never gone to school. They cannot speak English, we use an interpreter. They speak Venda or Xitsonga. Then the auntie tells me, ‘I sold magwinya and maize from my backyard to make money. I worked to survive, take care of my family, but also to save for my old age'.” Magwinya is also known as vetkoek, and in townships and rural areas it is popular street and comfort food. It consists of flour, sugar, yeast and water, which is deep-fried until golden brown. Malema and Shivambu spent this woman's savings on the Durban July.

Pauli recounts: “Another aunt who captured my heart was a construction worker, a ‘bricklayer's assistant'. She mostly did manual labour in a construction crew. She had an account with the VBS and all her money for her work went into it. These women don't really know how it happened that their blood and sweat were gone just like that. But someone took it, someone stole it, even their king was part of the plot. Everyone is scared to death, no one wants to talk about it."

I ask if she knows which law the Treasury used when it authorised the expenditure. “Piet, no, the Treasury realised that the people were left behind impoverished. They would literally starve to death. So, either you make a plan now, immediately, within days, or these people have absolutely nothing. The aunties were sleeping outside the bank on the stoep. The Treasury realised that there was chaos here, and it was about bread and butter." Perhaps this is one example of unauthorised expenditure for which the auditor-general should show leniency.

Ja. Here is something you can put in your pipe and smoke: the appeal court judgment on June 23, 2021 in the case of Julius Malema vs. Thembinkosi Terra Rawula said the EFF CIC was represented by T Ngcukaitobi SC, K Premhid, Ian Levitt Solicitors, Sandton, and Lovius Block Solicitors, Bloemfontein. Rawula's representation? “In person." The court ruled in favour of the unrepresented Rawula, who could not afford the court case. Salutations, brother!

In his ruling, the judge found it strange that Malema dragged Rawula to court but did not take the same steps against Van Wyk and the Daily Maverick. The sexism and misogyny that Van Wyk had to endure on social media this past week from EFF members and the attacks by the party's SC, Dali Mpofu, tell you everything you should know about the EFF's understanding of justice.

♦ VWB ♦

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