Staff Reporter.
Two Limpopo municipal bosses who were arrested by the Hawks on Wednesday morning in relation to the illicit investment of municipal millions with the Venda Business Society (VBS) have been granted bail.
Julia Mathebe, 51, and Minah Maredi, 59, were arrested in Groblersdal, charged with corruption, money laundering and contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act and the Banks Act.
The arrests emanated from an investigation by the Hawks into unlawful investments made by municipalities into the defunct VBS Mutual Bank in 2014.
Mathebe is now the mayor of the Sekhukhune District Municipality.
Speaking on allegations against Maredi before the court appearance, Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale said: The municipal manager is said to have been instrumental in investing R190 million municipal funds into the VBS Mutual Bank wherein the mayor received over R300 000 in gratification which included cash, accommodation and flight tickets. These were channelled through a company belonging to her children.
The case was postponed to 2 March next year.
Eight Limpopo municipal mayors have since been fired by Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha, following their alleged involvement in the illicit municipal investment with the VBS Mutual Bank.
About 11 municipalities had invested more than R1.2 billion into the bank. This was in contravention of a ban by the National Treasury, which forbade public institutions such as municipalities to investment public funds into a mutual bank.
Last month, opposition parties accused Mathabatha of including VBS-tainted ANC bigwigs into his Cabinet. During his recent Cabinet reconfiguration, Mathabatha fired former education MEC Polly Boshielo and former Public Works MEC Dickson Masemola in favour of former Vhembe district municipality’s executive mayor, Florence Radzilani and former Lepelle Nkumpi local municipality mayor, Nakedi Sibanda-Kekana.