VBSHeist: No financial recovery plan for employees and residents who bear the brunt for West Rand Municipality dodgy investment
30 October 2018
The VBS Mutual Bank heist has already cost South Africans dearly and it has now been reported that at least one municipality, the West Rand District Municipality in Gauteng, will not be able to pay salaries this month.
The municipality illegally invested R77 million with VBS despite a directive from National Treasury warning against this practice.
According to the resolution, the Minister and the Municipality reached earlier this year, a financial recovery plan was meant to be developed and implemented, however, the municipality has failed to do this.
This should be a clear trigger to place the municipality under administration in terms of Section 139 of the Constitution of South Africa.
Apart from not being able to pay salaries, as a result of investing conditional grants with VBS, a number of the municipality’s projects have been delayed or suspended, including water supply projects and road construction and maintenance projects.
In addition to this, hardworking municipal workers face the daunting prospect of not having their salaries paid this month.
To date, very little action has been taken against municipal officials who squandered billions in public funds.
The Democratic Alliance once again calls for the Municipal Managers and the CFO’s of these affected municipalities to be suspended pending urgent disciplinary and criminal hearings.
It is shameful that there has been so much noise, but zero action was taken against those public representatives and officials who were involved in the VBS Heist.
The human impact of this heist is often forgotten as many poor and vulnerable South Africans almost lost their life savings.
The effect of the VBS Heist on the 15 implicated municipalities goes beyond municipalities not being able to pay public servants’ salaries, it also inevitably weakens much-needed service delivery.
Those involved in the VBS scandal must be held accountable without further delay.
Issued by Kevin Mileham, DA Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, 30 October 2018
