JOHANNESBURG, Aug 28, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - South Africa's president Cyril
Ramaphosa on Wednesday asked the country's justice minister to explain graft
allegations linking her to a $130 million bank scandal, amid mounting calls
for her to step down.

"President Cyril Ramaphosa has noted with concern media reports containing
allegations of corruption" against Thembi Simelane, the president's office
said in a statement.

Local media have reported that Simelane allegedly received an improper loan
of over 500,000 rand ($28,000) during her tenure as the mayor of Polokwane,
the capital city of the northeastern Limpopo province, between 2014 and 2021.

Reports linked the payment to a fraud scandal at VBS Mutual Bank, which
collapsed in 2018, with authorities blaming looting by executives and
politicians.

"The president has requested a detailed report and briefing from the minister
on the matter," the presidency said.

Several political parties have called for Simelane to resign and a swift
probe into the matter.

A leftist opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), called for
Simelane's "immediate resignation", despite some of its own leaders being
alleged to have taken bribes as part of the scandal.

Due to her "involvement in looting" the bank, "it is now clear that Simelane
has no place in the executive leadership of this country," the EFF said.

The centrist Democratic Alliance (DA) party said the "allegations raise
serious questions about the minister's integrity and her ability to fulfil
the critical role of upholding justice".

GOOD, a smaller party, said: "Simelane cannot remain the minister responsible
for a justice system that may well have to investigate and prosecute her."

The 51-year-old minister was appointed in June after the historic African
National Congress (ANC) was forced into an uneasy coalition with the DA and
other smaller parties after May's elections.

The party had lost its absolute parliamentary majority for the first time
since democracy in 1994.

High-ranking officials within the ANC have been involved in numerous graft
scandals including Ramaphosa and his deputy as well as the country's former
national assembly speaker.

A 2018 report by the South African Reserve Bank detailed how $130 million
(116 million euros) was stolen from VBS over three years by 53 individuals,
including executives and politicians.

The customers who lost their savings in the plunder of the bank were mainly
poor rural depositors, including pensioners, the report said.