Johannesburg - ActionSA in Limpopo has welcomed the decision of the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, to dismiss the appeal applications of two top ANC officials linked to the VBS looting.
The High Court recently ruled in favour of the SA Reserve Bank in its appeal application against the same court’s ruling in August 2020 that ANC provincial treasurer Danny Msiza was not given a right to reply to advocate Terry Motau’s “The Great Bank Heist” report on the VBS looting which linked him to the crime.
The court set aside the findings against Msiza.
But the SA Reserve Bank appealed against the ruling and Judge Swanepoel found that Motau’s failure to afford Msiza an opportunity to be heard was not irrational and thus passed the legality test.
In a separate lawsuit, ex-ANC Youth League leader in Limpopo, Kabelo John Matsepe, and one of his companies, Moshate Investment Group, were also unsuccessful against Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, his Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) counterpart Thembi Nkadimeng, National Director of Public Prosecution Shamila Batohi and the SA Local Government Association in the same court.
Matsepe, who was finally sequestrated late last year after failing to pay the SA Revenue Service about R61.5 million, suffered another blow early this month when the high court upheld its previous dismissal of his application to quash his VBS-related criminal charges.
Commenting on the court outcomes, ActionSA provincial leader Sello Lediga, said it was with great elation that ActionSA has learnt that the infamous VBS case would resume on July 17, 2023, in Gauteng, after the two accused, Msiza and Matsepe, had their applications thrown out by the court.
“Unlike most cases of corruption that have been to court in the past year, the VBS case has been stalled for too long. It is time that the wheels of justice roll so that those charged, can be brought to court to be prosecuted for their alleged crimes.
“While several people elsewhere in the country have been charged, Limpopo remains the epicentre of this bank heist. Most of the municipalities involved in this great fraud are in the Limpopo Province,” Lediga said.
He said ActionSA Limpopo takes this opportunity to appeal to the criminal justice system in South Africa to prioritise this case and make sure that justice takes its course. The hundreds of victims of this heist have been waiting for too long without knowing what was happening, he said.
They are entitled to justice and the sooner the case is concluded the better for them to have closure on this matter, he added.
“As ActionSA, we promise to do everything in our power to ensure that the case won't be swept under the carpet by powerful forces in Limpopo and in South Africa.
“We will soon announce the kind of action we will be taking to keep the case alive in our communities and in the media. Justice delayed is justice denied,” Lediga said.