The Limpopo provincial government says it is necessary to save VBS Mutual Bank while law enforcement agencies continue to deal with officials who were involved in criminal activities.
The National Treasury has launched an investigation after 10 Limpopo municipalities illegally invested more than R1 billion with VBS-Mutual Bank which is now under curatorship.
Provincial government Spokesperson Phuti Seloba says officials who were involved in the investment with the bank must be dealt with.
“There’s an investigation by National Treasury and there’s a forensic investigations that we are conducting. There’s an investigation by a security cluster, those who were involved in criminal shenanigans. Let the law take its place. Let us correct other areas, but at the same time, there’s a need for the institution … I don’t think there’s a debate about whether VBS is needed or not; it is needed; it is necessary. So, if it is necessary, we can save it and deal with the other issues.”
Meanwhile, the Limpopo government will decide soon if it will enter into a partnership with the private sector to run the Polokwane Gateway Airport.
Seloba says they are struggling to sustain the airport because it does not generate revenue.
“There’s a debate going on, whether we need to … actually, do we need that airport or do we need to go for (PPT) Private Public Partnership to inject financial resources, because we cannot keep on taking from the public to sustain that institution which is not generating (revenue).”
