Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

3-minute read
07 October 2023 | 14:21 CAT

FILE: EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu. Picture: Sethembiso Zulu/Eyewitness News

Parliament’s Ethics Committee has found EFF Deputy President Floyd Shivambu guilty of violating its Ethics Code of Conduct.

The committee found Shivambu failed to declare the R180 000 he received from his brother’s company, Sgameka Projects, which was engulfed in the VBS bank scandal.

The VBS scandal rocked South Africans in 2018 when almost R2 billion was stolen by the bank’s directors, senior executives and well-connected politicians.

Former DA MP Phumzile Van Damme had complained to Shivambu that same year, with the party calling for investigations into the possible conflict of interest.

The committee obtained an affidavit by the liquidator in the VBS liquidation matter, which identified that three payments were made to Floyd Shivambu in 2017. The amounts were R100 thousand, R30 thousand and R50 thousand.

The Ethics Committee has now recommended a sanction of docking nine days of his salary due to his unethical conduct by failing to disclose monies he received relating to the VBS matter.

“Parliament’s probe into the involvement of EFF leaders Floyd Shivambu and Julius Malema in the looting of VBS Mutual Bank proves two obvious facts: The EFF has an organised propaganda network that springs into action when the party’s leaders are criticised or proven to be corrupt. And Parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests is slow, inefficient and displays no understanding of the laws that govern our institutions or the use of fronts to hide illicit money flows,” says investigative Journalist Pauli Van Wyk.

Meanwhile, the DA has welcomed the finding.

“While this comes as cold comfort to those who lost their life’s savings in the VBS Heist, it is a step in the right direction by Parliament,” the DA stated.

Listen to the full interview on The Daily Round-Up with Moulana Junaid Kharsany.