By Milton Nkosi
The leader of South Africa’s opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has backed his deputy Floyd Shivambu, who has been implicated in a banking corruption scandal.
Mr Malema told a packed news conference in Johannesburg that the EFF has “full confidence” in Mr Shivambu.
“The deputy president [of the party] has taken the EFF in his confidence. We have no reason to doubt him. The EFF has not been mentioned in the report,” Mr Malema said.
Mr Shivambu, a long time comrade of Mr Malema’s, has been accused of receiving R10m ($700,000; £530,000) from his brother Brian Shivambu.
Floyd Shivambu rejects the accusation calling it “pure insanity”.
The report, commissioned by South Africa’s central bank, listed Brian Shivambu as one of the people who received money from the collapsed bank.
A forensic report into the collapse of VBS Mutual said about 2bn rand ($140m, £100m) was “looted”.
Mr Malema explained how the party concluded that its deputy president was innocent.
“We looked at his financial statement and we cannot locate any money from VBS. We have asked for statements as far back as 2014 and we are satisfied.”
But he was quick to add: “I’m not scared of Floyd. I’ve never been scared of anyone. If Floyd has stolen money he will be punished.” BBC News
