By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Thembi Simelane, will be appearing before the African National Congress (ANC) integrity commission later today.
The meeting is expected to take place virtually, the ANC confirmed on Wednesday.
“The integrity commission serves as a crucial accountability mechanism of the organisation, which has a process that allows members to state their case based on facts to preserve the integrity of its members and of the ANC,” the party said.
“The ANC will communicate any developments in due course.”
Simelane was summoned by parliament and President Cyril Ramaphosa to account for the VBS scandal.
Simelane took a R575,600 loan from Gundo Wealth Solutions in 2016, a company whose director, Ralliom Razwinane, was a VBS fixer.
She is under pressure to step down after it emerged that she received a loan from a VBS-linked fixer to pay for a Sandton coffee shop.
She received a loan from Gundo Wealth Solutions during her tenure as Polokwane mayor.
Simelane told Parliament that she had repaid R849,000 on the loan some four years later in three payments, in October and November 2020 with a final payment in January 2021. She offered no proof of these payments and claimed she received no undue benefit.
The same company had solicited deposits of millions of rands from the Polokwane municipality on behalf of VBS, despite public finance rules barring municipalities from placing money with mutual banks.
In total, Polokwane deposited R349-million with VBS between 2016 and 2017. The full amount was withdrawn prior to the bank’s collapse in 2018, caused by extensive looting by the bank’s management, fixers as well as ANC and EFF politicians.
Razwinane, however, is facing charges of corruption for payments he received from VBS in connection with the Polokwane deposits. He was paid commissions, effectively success fees, for securing the deposits. Prosecutors labelled these payments corrupt.
VBS collapsed in 2018 after its coffers were depleted by a fraudulent scheme in which money flowed from suspense accounts to bank officials and their family members.
She also denied that there was any conflict of interest between her position as justice minister, with oversight of the National Prosecuting Authority, which is pursuing charges against several VBS corruption accused.