Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

Hawks confirm imminent prosecution in AfriForum’s EFF docket

The Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation (Hawks) has confirmed that the investigation into VBS Bank has been completed and that the suspects will be prosecuted soon. AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit has now sought confirmation whether charges of racketeering, money laundering and corruption, as alleged in the complaint filed by AfriForum CEO, Kallie Kriel, form part of that case, as claimed by the investigating officer.

The Hawks’ investigating officer met with Kriel, Nel and the unit’s chief investigator Andrew Leask on Friday, 17 January 2025. The lieutenant colonel said Kriel’s docket had been closed because his complaint was a duplicate of what had already been investigated as part of a complaint filed in 2019.

In a letter to the Hawks’ Anti-Corruption Investigation Section Commander, Nel sets out the inference that can be drawn from this revelation. “We must accept that the investigation included allegations and resulted in an investigation of Mr Malema, Mr Shivambu, and the EFF as a criminal enterprise beyond the scope of the VBS allegations,” he said.

While the Hawks indicated they would retain Kriel’s affidavit in the correspondence section of the docket, Nel suggested that the dockets should instead be merged and Kriel’s affidavit filed as a complaint as part of the evidence section. “We must also record our discontent with your decision to file our client’s complaint as a duplication and contend that is an oversight. We emphasise that Mr Kriel’s criminal complaint extends itself to criminal activities of a broader nature than those restricted to the VBS matter.

“In doing so we remain steadfast that Mr Kriel’s complaint cannot be disposed of by filing his complaint as a duplicate and then seeking to pacify our client by filing his affidavit under the B section, ‘correspondence section,’ of any docket,” said Nel.

In July last year, Kriel filed an affidavit urging the police to investigate the pair on charges of racketeering and fraud, among other charges.

Kriel set out in detail how the planned and repeated fraud, corruption and money laundering offences allegedly committed by the EFF leader and Shivambu meet the requirements for criminal offences as defined in the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA). The criminal complaint was reported at the Sandton Police Station on 19 July.

Kriel’s affidavit referred to revelations made by Tshifhiwa Matodzi, former chair of VBS Mutual Bank, in his witness statement presumably submitted as part of a plea agreement. “This alleged criminal conduct should no longer be considered in isolation from the so-called ‘VBS scandal’ suspects, but should also include the suspicious, and in my opinion unexplored, accusations that point to the EFF political party as an enterprise, as defined in POCA.

“I submit that the publicly available documented information constitutes enough reasonable suspicion of the establishment of an EFF enterprise as determined by POCA and a history of planned, ongoing and repeated participation or involvement in criminal conduct by these individuals. This requires diligent and steadfast intervention by the authorities in a manner where they live up to the expectation that they will conduct their constitutional obligations without fear, favour or prejudice,” said Kriel.