Floyd Shivambu asked me to stop VBS going into curatorship: Nhlanhla Nene

EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu allegedly sent an SMS to former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene and treasury director-general Dondo Mogajane, asking that the controversial VBS Mutual Bank not be placed under curatorship.

Nene made the startling claim when he appeared before the state capture commission on Thursday.

Nene claims that he received an SMS from Shivambu days after he was reappointed as finance boss in February 2018. In the message, Shivambu says "it is sad when a black-owned bank is placed under curatorship" and blamed the Treasury for its fate. He then asked Nene to "assist" in the matter.

At the time, Nene was tasked with determining whether the bank be placed under curatorship after reports found that almost R2bn was looted from the institution. Shivambu's brother is alleged to be one of the parties that benefited from the scandal.

"I did not succumb to this kind of pressure because this was meant to influence my decision," Nene told the commission.

Nene resigned as finance minister in October last year when it emerged that he lied about meeting members of the Gupta family in a media interview. He made the admission when he testified before the commission last year.

In and around the time Nene initially testified, the EFF released a barrage of press statements which included allegations that he had a corrupt relationship with the Gupta family. The EFF also claimed that his son, Siyabongo Nene, benefited from a R900m funding deal from the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) while Nene was its chairperson.

"I did not promote any funding from the PIC to any companies involving my son," Nene said on Thursday. "I deny all the allegations. I truly can only describe these reports and social media commentary as baseless and unfounded … It might have been an attempt to tarnish my integrity and therefore bring my evidence before this commission into question.

"These attacks on the Treasury had started mounting even prior to that. It is common knowledge that Shivambu's brother had benefited from the VBS matter."

Nene invited the EFF to approach the commission with evidence of his wrongdoing.