Vhembe mayor resigns, while six mayors are fired over #VBS scandal

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Johannesburg - Vhembe District Municipality Mayor Florence Radzilani has resigned amid allegations of her involvement in the VBS scandal. Radzilani resigned in a letter dated December 11, and she insists that she was not involved in the VBS scandal. "I, therefore, tender my resignation with immediate effect. I would like to reiterate the fact that I have consistently communicated that I was not involved in VBS municipal investments, both officially and privately," Radzilani said in her resignation letter. The municipality she governed invested millions of rand into VBS and she allegedly involved in encouraging the investment. She was quoted in text messages to a VBS official asking for a "Christmas" and was allegedly given R300 000 for her work.

Vhembe municipality will not be able to recoup the R300 million it invested into VBS. A number of municipalities around the country invested in VBS despite National Treasury warning municipalities not invest in the bank.



The VBS scandal shocked South Africans when a report, commissioned by the SA Reserve Bank, revealed that close to R2 billion was swindled from VBS by politicians and the officials in charge of the bank.

A number of people who invested in the bank lost their money. The bank was liquidated following the High Court approval in November.

Meanwhile, Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha told journalists during a media briefing on Tuesday that the ANC provincial executive committee had fired seven of the mayors involved in the VBS scandal through investments from their municipalities. Radzilani is one of them.

The Limpopo PEC has also recommended that disciplinary procedures be taken against municipal managers and chief financial officers in those seven municipalities.