Danny Msiza
Danny Msiza is the former treasurer-general of the ANC’s Limpopo provincial structure and the alleged political architect of the illegal municipal deposit scheme at the heart of the VBS Mutual Bank collapse. Advocate Terry Motau’s “The Great Bank Heist” report (October 2018) identified him as the “kingpin” of the mechanism by which R3.4 billion in municipal deposits — prohibited under the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) — was funnelled into VBS. His political position as the ANC’s Limpopo treasurer gave him the authority to influence the deployment of mayors and exert pressure on municipal officials throughout the province, a power the NPA alleges he used to coerce twelve municipalities into making illegal deposits.
The NPA’s 206-page indictment in the case “The State v Tshifhiwa Matodzi and Others” charges Msiza as Accused No. 11 for allegedly convincing twelve municipalities to invest approximately R1.5 billion into VBS in contravention of the MFMA. The alleged mechanism: from September 2016, Msiza, Kabelo Matsepe (Accused No. 10; ANCYL Limpopo leader), and Tshifhiwa Matodzi discussed how to use political influence to channel municipal money into VBS. Matsepe served as a runner and intermediary between municipal officials and Msiza, extracting R35 million for his facilitation role. Florence Radzilani (Vhembe District Municipality mayor; ANC Limpopo deputy chair) received R300,000 as a “Christmas bonus” for rallying her council.
Msiza successfully challenged the Motau Report’s findings about him in a Gauteng High Court case: Judge Tlhapi found that Motau’s failure to afford Msiza the right to be heard during the investigation violated his constitutional rights, requiring those findings to be set aside on procedural grounds — without affecting the underlying criminal indictment. The trial has been significantly delayed. In August 2024, the Pretoria High Court ruled that Msiza and Matsepe’s trial must be separated from that of their eleven co-accused. The NPA appealed this separation ruling to the Supreme Court of Appeal (announced February 2025). As of August 2025, no trial date had been fixed and the case was unlikely to conclude before 2026. In February 2025, Matodzi testified as a state witness against former Thulamela mayor Tshifhango and explicitly implicated Msiza as having “played a role in deploying mayors to municipalities in the province” — the first time Matodzi corroborated the affidavit’s allegations against Msiza in open court.
Connections
- VBS Mutual Bank — “kingpin” of municipal deposit scheme (Motau report); ~R1.5bn from 12 municipalities
- Tshifhiwa Matodzi — coordinated scheme from September 2016; Matodzi’s affidavit and February 2025 court testimony implicate Msiza
- Kabelo Matsepe — co-accused; ANCYL Limpopo; middleman; R35m extracted
- ANC (African National Congress) — ANC Limpopo treasurer-general; used party deployment power to coerce municipalities
- National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) — Accused No. 11; trial separation appeal to SCA; no trial date as of August 2025