Floyd Shivambu guilty of not disclosing VBS payments

EFF Deputy President Floyd Shivambu has been found guilty of breaching the MPs’ code of ethical conduct for failing to disclose VBS Mutual Bank money he received. The Parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members’ interests has found that Shivambu failed to disclose the R180,000 he received from the bank.

The committee recommended that Shivambu be penalised with the loss of nine days’ salary.

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The committee found that R180,000 was paid to him by Sgameka, a company owned by his brother, Brian Shivambu.

The complaint was laid in 2018 by a former MP and DA leader John Steenhuisen based on media reports.

The ethics committee heard evidence from the VBS Mutual Bank liquidator, who reported that the money was transferred in 2017 by Sgameka Projects to Shivambu in three installments.

VBS MONEY PAID TO EFF LEADER FLOYD SHIVAMBU

The report discovered that the following money was transferred from Sgameka Projects to Shivambu.

18 August 2017: R100 000
24 August 2017: R 30 000
26 August 2017: R 50 000

It was found that Shivambu breached item 10.1.1.1 of the Code of Ethical Conduct and Disclosure of Members’ Interests. This is for failing to comply with the requirements of the provisions for disclosing financial interest.

The committee also said it was unable to trace whether Shivambu received more money via other bank accounts. It’s now decided to finalise the complaint based on the evidence it has been able to obtain.

“All the investigative avenues used by the committee to try and trace whether more money was paid to the member [Shivambu] via bank accounts to which the liquidator did not have access were unsuccessful. This part of the investigation is therefore inconclusive. The committee decided to finalise the complaint on the evidence that it had before it,” the committee said.

Meanwhile, Police Minister Bheki Cele has also been found guilty of breaching the code of ethical conduct for MPs. This is after he locked horns with an anti-crime activist at a meeting in Gugulethu last year.