VBS shareholders’ forum chairperson Madambi Muvhulawa has said Nedbank will pay the rest of the defunct mutual bank’s victims up to R100 000 per depositor with immediate effect.

He reportedly told the Pretoria News yesterday that Nedbank officially informed him about its decision more than three years after it took over the assets and liabilities of the defunct Venda Building Society (VBS) Mutual Bank following its collapse in 2018.

Muvhulawa said a senior official from Nedbank head office informed his forum that the bank would pay all VBS depositors who lost their monies. But the payments have been capped at R100 000 per depositor.

Those who were owed more would get the balance of their money at a later stage, he added.

‘Nedbank will be expected to make an announcement on the matter this week because we told them to spread the message in the media so that it reaches people,’ Muvhulawa said.

Nedbank spokesperson Annaleigh Vallie confirmed the decision to pay the remaining VBS victims, saying all who had proof that they had invested in the collapsed bank could go to any branch to claim.

The Pretoria News says it has also established that the NPA was expected to ask for four months to prosecute the seven accused in the VBS case as well as three others tipped to be arrested before the end of this month.

NPA spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said: ‘We hope to start the trial during the fourth term (maybe from October to December) this year. In respect of the duration of the trial, it is going to be a lengthy trial. In all probability it will take longer than 16 weeks.’

Full Pretoria News report