Sentencing of Chairperson of now defunct VBS Mutual bank welcomed

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Some investors in the now defunct VBS Mutual Bank have welcomed the sentencing of the bank’s chairperson. Chartered Accountant, Tshifhiwa Matodzi was sentenced to an effective 15-years imprisonment by the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday.

He pleaded guilty to fraud-related charges linked to the looting of R1.9 billion at the bank.

Counting their loses, a group of women used to collect their daily earnings as a stokvel and then save it in the now defunct VBS Mutual Bank. Through the stokvel, many were able to build houses and take their children to school.

When the bank was declared insolvent and bankrupt in 2018, many of the women lost thousands of rand.

They say they are yet to recover any of their savings. The women who make a living through selling fish on the street have welcomed Matodzi’s conviction.

“This really hurt us and our children. The money that I saved was for taking my children to university. The bank was our future and now it is all history that will forever be a bad reminder to me who has put a lot of money,” says Sarah Masia.

“I am not happy with the sentencing that they gave Tshifhiwa Matodzi, many people lost their life because of all the money they stole from us. They should increase the years,” says Alidzilwi Mbedzi.

Several kilometres from the market, minority shareholder, Mudambi Muvhulawa also counts his loses. He too welcomes the conviction but expresses disappointment that it does not mean financial compensation to the bank’s investors.

“We appreciate the crime investigators with what they are doing, and we are excited but that does not mean that we will get cent out of that sentence it means nothing financially to us. What we want is our money to come back if they come up with a plan to say now that we sentence this person this is a plan that we are going to get money out of this then that would excite us.”

The pre-trial hearing for two other accused on the matter has been scheduled for July 22nd.

Matodzi is the second VBS official to be convicted, after Chief Financial Officer, Phillip Truter was sentenced to 10-years imprisonment in 2020.

Video: VBS Bank Saga – Relief at Matodzi’s sentencing, but minority shareholders want their looted funds.