How Julius Malema forced Floyd Shivambu to speak in parliament

EFF leader Julius Malema forced his deputy‚ Floyd Shivambu‚ to speak in parliament about the VBS Mutual Bank heist saga – but he was hesitant to do so.

Malema made the revelation in Qhugqwala village in King William’s Town over the weekend, the Daily Dispatch reported. He was speaking at the funeral of his colleague Dali Mpofu’s mother‚ Nosebenzile Doris Mpofu‚ who died aged 86.

“They said our deputy president got R10m of VBS and we said he did not get the money. Then they said there was a deLooking bate in parliament about VBS‚ I said to the deputy president‚ I was in Rwanda‚ ‘you are going to speak there’.

“[He said] ‘No president do you think it’s strategic?’

“I said: ’They want you to keep quiet‚ they want to sweep you into a silent corner and make you feel ashamed of yourself because they know that which they say about you is not true. It’s not like they don’t know‚ they know it’s not true but they want to silence you.’

“’Unless you took R10m, then you will be sad to stand before people‚ but if you have not taken it you are not hearing the nonsense they are saying because you have got an appointment with the future. You focus on the appointment with the future‚ no amount of distraction should distract you.

"If you fail‚ if you feel weak‚ look at Ma Mpofu here. When her child was in and out of prison so many things were said about her’‚” Malema told hundreds of mourners.

Shivambu's brother, Brian, was fingered in advocate Terry Motau’s VBS Mutual Bank forensic report.

Brian was found to have received R16.1m from the looted VBS Mutual Bank. Of that amount‚ R10m allegedly went to the EFF heavyweight.

During the debate in Parliament on Tuesday‚ Shivambu was reported as saying the DA and a faction in the ANC were barking up the wrong tree.

“We will not entertain the barking that has been happening here in terms of the issues of VBS. The EFF and ourselves as the members of parliament never benefited anything from the VBS looting and the so-called heist that happened there‚ but we want to give you a clearer context of what happened there.

“There was total wrongdoing by the executives of VBS Mutual Bank. We as the EFF‚ without any fear of contradictions‚ want to call on all the law enforcement agencies to take decisive action against all the people that did wrong in VBS Mutual Bank but we want to give you context.

“From 2014 National Treasury‚ SA Reserve Bank‚ [the department of] cooperative governance and traditional affairs were aware that municipalities are putting money in a mutual bank against the law and because of opportunism‚ National Treasury didn’t do anything about it.

"Even when the question was asked to National Treasury‚ they just gave the list of municipalities that were exposed to VBS Mutual Bank‚ and not only VBS Mutual Bank by the way‚ including the Grahamstown Building Society‚ which is a mutual bank [that] has got municipal deposits up to this date.

“The Reserve Bank has been aware throughout the existence of the bank that your exposure to municipalities is dangerous and the only caution the Reserve Bank gave to VBS Mutual Bank was that ‘your depositors are concentrated with municipalities. Please balance it‚ not all together discontinue it’.”

Malema said they attended the funeral to thank Mpofu’s mother “for having allowed him to participate in the revolution”.

“We want to thank her for not deciding to convince him to get out of the revolution because many parents would have done so‚ particularly if you have this bright young person who you look up to to take you out of poverty‚” Malema said.

Shivambu‚ EFF secretary general Godrich Gardee‚ his deputy Hlengiwe Maxon‚ and EFF national spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi‚ as well as the ANC’s Andile Lungisa and Zukisa Faku were among the hundreds of mourners.

Mpofu paid a moving tribute to his mother‚ who died at his home in Johannesburg‚ saying one day he would write a book to honour her.