AmaBhungane’s Susan Comrie speaks to Radio 702’s Bongani Bingwa about a series of cryptic messages that suggest EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambvu used his political profile for financial gain.
Read the full story: WhatsApps expose Floyd and the ‘Red Boys’
Comrie says: “We can see evidence from WhatsApp messages being exchanged with businessman Lawrence Mulaudzi which certainly suggests that he [Floyd Shivambu] was asking for what he terms ‘interventions’. And what the context of the messages suggest is that what he was asking for, is money.
“The context of the messages suggests that what he is asking for is money – in one instance he provides bank details for his brother’s company Grand Azania which you would recall featured quite prominently in the VBS saga.
“Can we look into his bank accounts and see exactly what went in there and what went into Grand Azania, how he benefitted? No, not at this stage… It suggests that he is benefiting in some way and he is not disclosing that to the National Assembly and not disclosing it to us, the voting public.
“We think that around R6.2-million from VBS flowed through another company and into Grand Azania. Now is a member of the National Assembly benefiting from that money and not disclosing it? That is a question we need to keep digging into.
“Transactions, linked through Grand Azania … suggest that the company is really there to benefit [Shivambu] and perhaps not exclusively his brother [Brian],” Comrie says.
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