Kabelo Matsepe, Danny Msiza back in court for plea for separation of VBS trial

The Pretoria high court was on Wednesday set to hear a plea from two former ANC leaders in Limpopo implicated in the VBS Mutual Bank heist that they have a separate prosecution.

Former ANCYL leader Kabelo Matsepe and former provincial ANC treasurer Danny Msiza, who are accused of soliciting deposits by various municipalities into VBS Mutual Bank, want the court to separate their trial from the rest of the accused. There are 12 accused in the matter.

Former NPA boss Adv Shaun Abrahams made the application on behalf of Matsepe and Msiza, saying it would be in the interest of justice and ensuring they were not prejudiced.

“We seek to temporarily stay of prosecution pending the finalisation and application of the leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal. The second relief that we seek is a separation of my clients' trial from that of their respective co-accused.

“My clients' applications are premised first, on the interest of justice and second, a vindication of their rights contemplated by Section 35 of the constitution, simply their right to be informed of the charges and to answer to the same charge and their right to eloquently prepare their respective defences.

“Third, their right to have their trial begin and conclude in a reasonable time. And lastly, my clients' right to challenge and produce evidence,'' he said about a month ago.

The group's charges emanate from the scandal, often referred to as the “Great Bank Heist”, which saw the looting of funds from VBS Mutual Bank. This led to its eventual collapse in March 2018.

This devastated many municipalities and individual depositors who lost their savings.

On Wednesday morning, DA deputy chief whip Baxolile Nodada staged a picket outside the court calling for justice to prevail.

“It’s poor vulnerable people who lost their savings. The reason we are out here today is because we are cautious and optimistic that justice will be served to the victims of VBS Mutual Bank heist,” he said.

A sum of R2bn was looted from the bank. Its former chairperson, Tshifhiwa Matodzi, was last month handed a 495-year sentence for theft, fraud, money laundering and a pattern of racketeering activities that culminated in the collapse of the bank. He was ordered to serve only 15 years of the 495-year sentence.

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