The ANC received a R2 million election campaign donation from the bosses of VBS Mutual Bank.

This is according to a series of WhatsApp exchanges in which VBS bosses refer to the money – which was paid to a ‘service provider’ during the party’s 2016 local election campaign, reports the Sunday Times.

The messages also reportedly show how VBS bosses tried to mislead the Reserve Bank and other regulators as they paid out millions in the form of bogus loans.

In the series of WhatsApp and e-mail exchanges, a VBS majority shareholder and the former head of the treasury at the bank reportedly discussed moving funds between various accounts and hiding the bank’s real financial situation from the Reserve Bank and other regulators.

In addition to discussions surrounding the payment of facilitators to secure deposits from municipalities and state institutions, a 28 December exchange also appears to directly implicate then ANC treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize – who is now minister of co-operative governance and traditional affairs.

The messages allegedly show that Mkhize requested a R2 million ‘donation’ from Vele in 2016 in return for helping ‘raise money’ from municipalities and state institutions.

ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe said the ANC had no evidence of the R2 million donation but that the party would launch its own internal probe.

However, Mabe confirmed that the party did receive R250,000 from VBS to ‘buy’ a table at its 106th birthday celebrations held in East London in January this year.

You can read the full story in today’s copy of the Sunday Times.

Read: Worries over taxpayer-funded bailout for VBS: report