The newly elected Limpopo ANC provincial chairperson, Stan Mathabatha, has lashed out at his political rivals for “whining” about the election of his deputy Florence Radzilani and treasurer Nakedi Sibanda-Kekana, who have been linked to the Venda Mutual Bank Society (VBS) scandal.
Radzilani, the former mayor of Vhembe district municipality and Sibanda Kekana, the mayor of Lepelle-Nkumpi municipality, were implicated in the looting of VBS after their municipalities illegally deposited funds in the liquidated bank.
Vhembe invested R300-million while Lepelle-Nkumpi deposited R150-million. The two have, however, not been criminally charged.
Radzilani is emerging as the favourite to become the next female premier of the province while Sibanda-Kekana is being touted to be elevated to the position of MEC when Mathabatha decides to reshuffle his cabinet.
The election of the two officials has ruffled feathers in certain quarters among members of the ANC who say their election went against the party’s renewal programme and creates the impression that the party does not care about fighting corruption.
ANC leaders who opted to remain anonymous told Sunday World that Radzilani and Sibanda-Kekana should have stepped aside like Danny Msiza, the former provincial treasurer who didn’t challenge former provincial secretary Soviet Lekganyane after the party’s national executive committee (NEC) issued a directive that those charged with serious crimes should not contest leadership positions in the party.
Lekganyane lost the contest to the relatively unknown Reuben Madadzhe.
Msiza was charged along with 13 others for the alleged brazen looting of about R2.3-billion from VBS bank – leaving scores of investors high and dry in 2018.
In response to the criticism, Mathabatha said: “After the Terry Motau report was released, the provincial administration commissioned a forensic investigation on VBS. The findings confirmed the allegations of corruption and maladministration in all the affected municipalities. Then the provincial administration took action against all implicated parties.
“On its part, the ANC NEC adopted clear guidelines regarding comrades implicated in serious crimes and corruption. On our part, our decision on VBS was guided by the directives of the NEC on the step-aside policy.
“Regarding your reference to the two comrades, to our knowledge they were not charged.”
Asked if a cabinet reshuffle is on the cards after five MECs failed to make it to the newly elected provincial executive committee, Mathabatha said: “As the chairperson I am currently focused on my new mandate to lead Limpopo. The matter you are raising will be guided by continuous assessment of deployed comrades by the ANC.”
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