“A “fraudulent” application for a home loan with VBS Mutual Bank has cast light on what appears to be a slush fund to channel money to the EFF or its leader, Julius Malema.”

“An analysis of records obtained during an investigation into the looting of VBS bank shows that a company called Santaclara Trading received deposits totalling millions of rands from Malema’s lawyer, other companies doing work for the government in Limpopo, and the EFF itself.”

“Santaclara’s bank statements for March to September 2017, which the Sunday Times has seen and which were submitted to VBS as part of its bond application, detail “concerning” payments made mostly in multiples of R100,000 into the company’s account.”

“In March 2017 alone, Malema’s attorney Ian Levitt appears to have deposited R300,000 into the account. Levitt declined to comment this week on “matters which are clearly privileged and confidential”.”

“Another depositor was LTE Consulting, the company behind the controversial R2.2bn project to supply water to Limpopo, which deposited R200,000 into the account.”

“In total, just over R4m in payments into Santaclara’s account have been flagged as “concerning” in an accompanying analysis of the statements.’

“Malema’s deputy, Floyd Shivambu, through his company Grand Azania, allegedly received R1.1m from VBS and a further R3.3m from a company belonging to his brother.Brian Shivambu’s Sgameka Projects received a R4m loan from VBS in 2017, R1.78m of which it has been ordered to repay.”

“However, an analysis of the flow of funds into Grand Azania, shows it paid R500,000 to Santaclara. This would suggest that money from VBS — which folded after being looted out of almost R2bn at the expense of poor account-holders and struggling municipalities —

found its way into Malema’s or the EFF’s hands through Santaclara.”

“Malema told the Sunday Times yesterday that he has “no relationship with” Santaclara, which is “involved in all types of businesses”.”

“They are young boys who are trying to find their feet and there is no VBS for Santaclara, there is no such a thing,” he said.

“They have never received money of VBS. Those boys work hard, they hire out sound systems, hire out tents and they hire out furniture and they are legitimate traders, but because of their association with me, you guys want to destroy them. Go on.”

“In its bond application to VBS, Santaclara is listed as a catering business, but an accompanying analysis states it was “a company structured … for the purpose of concealing payments to EFF leaders”.”

“Santaclara came to light after its director, Malema’s cousin Phumi ‘Jimmy’ Matlebyane, applied for a bond to buy a four-bedroom, four-bathroom house for R3.2m in a gated complex in the upmarket Polokwane suburb of Bendor.”

“Matlebyane, 27, is a DJ who also goes by the name of Jimmy-fire Malema. On his Facebook profile he states that for the past year he has worked as the “resident DJ” at Mekete Boutique and Events, the Malema family-owned events venue outside Polokwane.”

“He is also the director of Vuur Trading and Projects, registered to the Sandton address of a house Malema rented before the EFF bought it. It is the EFF’s registered address.”

“Malema confirmed Matlebyane is his cousin, but denied any “relationship with Santaclara. I have a relationship with Jimmy”.”

“When Matlebyane first applied for his VBS bond in October 2017, he listed his income as R5,000 a month and his expenses as R2,400.”

“But later that same day, his loan application was “amended and redrafted” to state that he earned 30 times more than that and was thus well able to afford the R34,000 monthly bond repayments.”

“The VBS staff member amended the loan application to reflect an income of R154,999 in order to get the bond approved. This was done fraudulently in order for the applicant to qualify for the loan,” the analysis states.

“Santaclara came to light because Matlebyane’s bond application was e-mailed to a VBS manager by another of Malema’s cousins, Phaleng Matsobane, who is the director of Mahuna Investments, which was reported to be a slush fund for Malema.”

“Last month, AmaBhungane reported that a fleet management company with a R1.2bn contract with the City of Johannesburg bought a tractor for the EFF and donated R500,000 to
Mahuna.”

“It also reported that the company, called Afrirent, deposited R150,000 into Santaclara’s account last year. Afrirent denied the allegations.”

“In his bond application, Matlebyane listed his home address as a house in Zone 3, Seshego, Polokwane. But when the Sunday Times visited this week, the people who live there had no idea who he was.”

“Santaclara is registered to another address in Zone 3, and the people who live there knew nothing about the business either.”

“Santaclara’s bank statements appear to show that Levitt deposited two amounts — of R100,000 and R200,000 — in March 2017 alone. These payments appear to have been made at times when Santaclara was heavily overdrawn on its account.”

“As soon as those deposits were made, the money was quickly disbursed. The day Levitt’s first R100,000 payment was made, an amount of R150,000 was paid to the South African Revenue Service. Six days later, a further R50,000 was paid to Sars.”

“Levitt’s last known payment to Santaclara was of R50,000, made two months later.”