VBS Mutual Bank And Samwu
VBS Mutual Bank And Samwu, The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) has rejected a report in the City Press newspaper that it has a mortgage loan with the controversial VBS Mutual Bank.
On Sunday‚ City Press reported that VBS Mutual Bank lent out large sums of money to its own directors‚ municipal officials and Samwu to finance a building the union already owned.
At least five of VBS’s senior executives received mortgage loans running into millions of rand between 2015 and 2017‚ the paper reported. It added that the mortgage deal worth R11.8m was entered into between Samwu and VBS in October 2017. But the union rejected the allegations.
“Despite the union’s general secretary [Simon Mathe] having confirmed with the journalist when queried about the alleged mortgage loan that the union has not financed its head offices‚ the publication went ahead and printed the story which is now causing [reputational] damage to the union.
“We can confirm that the union’s head offices are fully paid up since 2007. The only credit facility which Samwu has entered into with VBS is for the provision of photocopy machines for the head office‚ [and] provincial and regional offices. This loan is currently being religiously serviced through a debit order on a monthly basis‚” Samwu said in an official statement.
Samwu said following the lapse of a previous contract with a service provider‚ “the union entered into an agreement with VBS Mutual Bank to finance the current contract‚ “an agreement which was concluded following proper due diligence from both parties”.
“The second issue that we have negotiated with VBS, that other commercial banks might not actually give, was housing and vehicle loans for our members. If you are a member of Samwu, you [are] going to get a 20% housing discount and then you [will] get that house.
“So we had approached several banking institutions to see whether we could get a vehicle in which we can provide decent housing for our members and it was VBS that actually agreed to give us the discount.”
He added that the union was currently paying back the loan.
“There is a R1m savings account which we cannot even access because the bank is under curatorship.
“It is unfortunate that some of the staff there decided to do what they did which is reflected in the media, we condemn what they did. We will be able to access the R1mn once the bank is no longer under curatorship.”
The total amount of the loan taken is R11.8m and a monthly repayment of more than R500 000 was being paid through a debit order monthly.
“We are indeed paying all staff who are working in various provinces, and when they are due for bonuses, we do pay them on time.”
He said what was negotiated was to benefit the workers and not the union’s leadership.
“We also want to dispel the lies expressed in the social space as well as the purported leadership battles.”
Molalenyane said the union had one leadership structure that was elected by a national conference in 2015.
“That leadership was elected by a national conference and I was elected as president at that national conference. We have never had any other conference that actually elected the leadership.
He said at the time, there had been serious allegations made by the previous leadership, that there [was] millions missing from the union’s coffers.
“The previous leadership, instead of appointing reputable institutions and companies, they appointed an internal team that comprised provincial secretaries to investigate allegations that were made by those former members.”
The outcome of that investigation cleared the previous national office bearers.
“Samwu always had that cloud that there were those missing millions. When I was elected in Durban in 2015, I then said that we will ensure that we appoint a reputable institution that would conduct a forensic investigation.
“The general secretary was then mandated by us. The national office bearers and central committee agreed that Ernst and Young would be appointed to conduct forensic investigations.”
He said this did not happen and now people were saying that they were expelled from the union because they requested a forensic investigation to be conducted, and this was not true.
Molalenyane said, after appointing a reputable company, people then started to try and hijack the union.
“They failed. They called a bogus central executive committee and they elected themselves. We went to court and they lost that case.
“So, as we stand, we don’t have a provincial chairperson called Nkhetheni Muthavhi. He tried to challenge his expulsion in a Durban court and he lost and the court confirmed his expulsion because of the anarchy that he tried to create in the union.”
In a shot aimed at City Press and News24 journalists, Molalenyane said: “Journalists should keep their reputations intact and not be allowed to be used by dark forces to try to tarnish the union.”
The union has intentions of taking City Press to the Press Ombudsman over the VBS loan story.