DM Weekly Wrap - Nene exits stage left, Shivambu slinks into VBS shadows

[Click here for the web version of this email]( [Daily Maverick]( Sunday, 14 October 2018 Story of the Week [The Shivambu Brothers and the Great VBS Heist]( By Pauli Van Wyk The EFF and its Deputy President Floyd Shivambu have benefited financially from the VBS Mutual Bank scandal, sources claim. Shivambu, who is said to have received about 10 million VBS-rand through his younger brother Brian, has for months tried to suppress the investigation into VBS by casting shadows over the integrity of officials in National Treasury and the Reserve Bank. Since the VBS report, titled ‘The Great Bank Heist’, was released on Wednesday, the EFF has retracted into a stony silence. A tame media statement on Wednesday evening, released just before 21:00, reiterated the party’s position ‘that all who are responsible and illegally benefited from the fraud must be criminally prosecuted immediately’. While details are still somewhat sketchy, this is what we know so far: [WH Auctioneers - Auction 30 October - Construction and Trucks]( [Nene’s shaky ground, now even more unstable]( The future of Nhlanhla Nene as the Finance Minister of South Africa, once seen as so vital to the country’s renewal, is now in serious doubt. Bluntly, it now seems almost 50/50 as to whether he will survive until the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement. By Stephen Grootes [VBS scandal: Prasa employee hailed for her role in saving R1-billion]( Yvonne Page’s principled refusal to bend the rules saved Prasa from making a very bad investment, says Motau report. By Aidan Jones for GroundUp [Gigaba denies any Gupta wrongdoing – but squirms under questioning]( Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba finally got his chance on Tuesday evening to address the Parliament committee investigating the early naturalisation of the Gupta family. Anyone expecting a repeat of now-axed Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene’s confessions to the Zondo Commission was in for disappointment. Gigaba admitted no wrongdoing whatsoever when it came to his dealings with the Gupta family – yet started to sweat when pressed. By Rebecca Davis [The politics of having the newest new Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni]( On Tuesday afternoon President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that he had accepted the resignation of Nhlanhla Nene as Finance Minister, and was appointing Tito Mboweni in his place. The President’s actions were revealing about his fears and his motives. They may also suggest that there are longer-term problems within the ANC that are currently coalescing around this particular position. Still, in the short to medium term, it appears Ramaphosa has managed to steady the ship, providing the markets with the experience and belief in economic orthodoxy they crave at this particular moment. By Stephen Grootes [WH Auctioneers - Auction 30 October - Construction and Trucks]( [Apartheid’s global defender who saw the writing on the wall]( Apartheid political veteran Pik Botha died at the age of 86 in Tshwane on Thursday. He was a leader in a system declared a crime against humanity but pushed for reform when many in the National Party were determined to defend the oppressive regime. By Greg Nicolson [The tangled web of the Lesotho Wool War]( A spiralling war between the Lesotho government and the country’s 37,000 wool and mohair farmers took an alarming new turn last week with the arrest of their association’s outspoken frontman. [Ayanda Dlodlo: In the trenches of public service and administration – and reconfiguration of government]( Public Service and Administration Minister Ayanda Dlodlo does not mince her words. Asked whether she’d step down now that Nhlanhla Nene has resigned as finance minister over a series of meetings with the Guptas he had lied about, she asked ‘why?’. The 2015 stopover in Dubai was not paid for by the Guptas, and when asked about it, or meeting the Guptas, she answered truthfully. Dlodlo holds the line. By Marianne Merten [WH Auctioneers - Auction 30 October - Construction and Trucks]( [FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO A FRIEND]( Copyright © 2018 Daily Maverick, All rights reserved. You are receiving this mail because you are awesome and on the Daily Maverick First Thing subscriber list. [Getting too many emails from us? Manage your preferences]( | [Unsubscribe](