Dondo Mogajane, the former Treasury Director-General, has responded to charges that he received an R1 million bribe in the VBS Bank case.
In a leaked affidavit, former VBS Bank chairperson Tshifhiwa Matodzi alleged Mogajane was bribed to retract a letter telling municipalities to stop depositing funds into the bank.
However, Mogajane denied the charges.
“I unequivocally deny having ever taken corrupt money or bribes. For the past 23 years, I have proudly served as a dedicated public servant with distinction, honesty, dedication, and humility, the last five as Director-General of National Treasury. “My record is spotless in terms of how I managed my department and conducted myself as a member of National Treasury,” he stated.
He further stated that he will not be tried by corrupt individuals or those who pursue their own interests.
“I will not let anyone tarnish my name,” Mogajane stated.
In a statement released on Friday, he stated that as DG, he was one of those who stopped Matodzi in his tracks and prevented VBS from plundering South Africa further.
“With this in mind, I’d like to correct the record. I met with Matodzi multiple times during my tenure. These meetings followed a circular issued by National Treasury in August 2017 informing municipalities that deposits at a mutual bank violated municipal finance standards and were not permitted.
“Matodzi wished to have the circular revoked. But each time, I gave him the same response: I refused to remove the circular and denied his demands to allow VBS to do any further investment arrangements with municipalities,” he added.
He said that Matodzi’s affidavit conveniently ignores many meetings held in the presence of others, including those with VBS management, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), a VBS shareholder, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), and other National Treasury officials.
“As indicated by the minutes of these meetings, we made it abundantly obvious that VBS Mutual Bank was not legally permitted to continue undertaking investment transactions or accepting deposits from municipalities.
“In fact, my colleagues and I were so disturbed by VBS Bank’s actions that I submitted an answering affidavit against it in November 2017, confirming National Treasury’s position against VBS’s intentions to continue accepting municipal deposits. Later, I gave another statement to the Hawks in support of their probe into the bank,” Mogajane added.
He stated that the law governing municipalities is extremely clear.
“Municipalities cannot make deposits with institutions that are not regulated under the Banks Act. VBS was created under the Mutual Banks Act. As a result, any municipal deposits with the bank were illegal, as I explained to Matodzi at each meeting.
“On this basis, we met with Matodzi to explore regularizing VBS as a bank. During these meetings, we urged Matodzi and VBS not to accept deposits until the bank was established and regularised in accordance with South African law,” he said.
Mogajane recalled that “during these discussions in 2017 and early 2018” , his client was “not aware that VBS was essentially a scam, and simply viewed these as engagements with a black-owned bank,” as he stated.
“Evidence of mine and National Treasury’s stance against Matodzi and VBS, including all filed affidavits, statements, meeting minutes, circulars, and general records dating back to 2017, is with the appropriate authorities.
“The same moral fiber and principles that I displayed during my 23 years of service to the state and the South African citizens continue to guide me today. These values are encoded in my DNA.
“My ideals and values continue to govern my commercial dealings, and they remain unchanged. Finally, I am glad to have been a part of the team that ended Matodzi and VBS’ corrupt and pilfering actions,” he stated.
