EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu. Picture: Timothy Bernard/ANA
EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu has rejected the findings by the parliamentary joint committee on ethics and members’ interest, over a failure to disclose financial interest to the tune of R180 000 paid to him by Sgameka in 2017.
Shivambu has now threatened to take the committee’s report on judicial review. This after the committee on Monday announced that it would recommend that his salary be docked for breaching the code on declaration of financial interest.
The EFF said in a statement that it noted the sanctions against its deputy leader. It also dismissed the committee’s finding that the donation Shivambu received was not declared, saying that “is utterly false and not a reflection of reality”.
“The deputy president will take Parliament to court to overturn the joint committee’s irrational and opportunistic conclusion and sanction.
“It is not in the powers of a joint committee to dispute the loans between people even when they have demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that they had loaned each other money.
“We welcome the fact that Parliament’s investigations have revealed that there was no money that was received from VBS Mutual Bank by both the EFF president and deputy president,” it said.
The party also said the joint committee accepted that the loan was a donation from a private company, Sgameka PTY Ltd, not from VBS.
“What is an incorrect conclusion of the committee is that the loan amount from Sgameka was a donation despite the fact that Sgameka presented a sworn affidavit that the amount is a loan which had nothing to do with VBS.”
The red berets stated that parliamentary rules did not prescribe that loans had to be declared with Parliament.
“There is therefore absolutely nothing wrong that the deputy president did, hence the legal challenge will be successful.”
The complaint against Shivambu, lodged by former DA MP Phumzile van Damme and DA leader John Steenhuisen, was based on media reports in the Daily Maverick and alleged that the member received about R10 million through his younger brother Brian Shivambu, among other things.
Committee chairpersons Bekizwe Nkosi and Lydia Moshodi said the VBS liquidator was summoned and provided an affidavit to the committee.
“The report highlighted that the following money was transferred from Sgameka Projects (a company owned by Mr Brian Shivambu, the member’s brother) to the member.”
The amounts were: August 18, 2017: R100 000, August 24, 2017: R30 000 and August 26, 2017: R50 000.
Nkosi and Moshodi said all other investigative avenues to try to trace whether more money was paid to Shivambu via bank accounts the liquidator did not have access to were unsuccessful.
Cape Times