Minister Mkhize concerned about fraudulent document used to cast aspersions
I have noted social media comments by General Bantu Holomisa that he has “evidence” that I influenced municipalities to invest in VBS Mutual Bank, and wish to state categorically that there can be no such evidence as the allegations is totally untrue.
I have never sat in a meeting that discussed the investment of municipalities with VBS. It was never raised with me at the meeting with VBS or any other meeting I was ever part of.
General Holomisa appears to be referring to a fraudulent document that has been circulating for a while which has been brought to my attention due to the abuse of my name. It is helpful that he has brought it into the public domain so that it can be dealt with.
The document purports to be a presentation made to me in my capacity as Treasurer-General of the ANC in 2016. The document indicates no author and no contact details to demonstrate authenticity, there is clumsy page numbering and the document shows clear signs of cut and paste wherein background features show slides that were done from different unrelated documents. It is clearly some shoddy work by mischievous individuals.
I reiterate that I met several companies, listed and unlisted, big and small, during my tenure as TG of the ANC to discuss ANC policies and also as they wished to introduce themselves as part of their stakeholder outreach programmes.
I reiterate as well that during such meetings, pictures are taken and shared on social media which has not been a problem for me as the meetings were not clandestine. I am not worried at all that General Holomisa has shared such photos on social media. They do not provide evidence of any wrongdoing.
I mentioned in my statement issued on Saturday that I visited the offices of VBS in 2016 and that is where they made the presentation of who they are and what they do and as usual pictures were taken. No discussion took place about municipalities or the issues raised in the document.
I am seriously concerned by this misrepresentation and use of fraudulent documents to create a wrong impression. I am aware that the stance we have taken against corruption would encourage such vitriol and attacks but we shall not be deterred from promoting clean governance.
I reiterate that the VBS issue is a serious matter which government is investigating. We will continue to support the investigations and processes that have been started by government to get to the bottom of the VBS allegations as we are concerned that money intended for service delivery may have been wrongfully diverted. Should General Holomisa have information that can assist the investigation, he should take the information to the law enforcement agencies instead of grandstanding and running slanderous media campaigns about it.
Enquiries:
Legadima Leso
Cell: 066 479 9904
