In the wake of the VBS scandal, Dr. Pali Lehohla explores the devastating impact on South Africa's democracy and the lives of its people, revealing the hidden truths behind the 'invisible people' and the urgent need for accountability.
Image: File photo
I had a long call to Tshilidzi Marwala, the South African Venda intellectual who is the rector of the United Nations University. You do not get them as visible as that.
Yet our insidious acts of invisibility condemn us to not only invisibility but to ridicule and abuse. Phuthuma Nhleko’s book launched two weeks ago titled The Invisible People reminds us of the acts of violence directed at these ourselves “the invisible people”.
No where does this theme of the invisible conscience resonate with the demise of VBS. I have met a few notable Venda people, be it business, public service or academia.
Each one of these has had their mother hurt in this VBS scandal.
A people’s social contract has been raptured. An African business model IP has been destroyed and now it is available to vultures, who has licence to abuse it.
What moral restraint would they have when fifty years of their mothers’ effort has been stolen and destroyed by their own sons.
The only indigenous tower of African success in the entire world of finance in South Africa. We tore it down with impunity and collapsed any hope for democracy.
According to Lehohla Ledger democracy has collapsed in 66 % of the South African population.
Even in the possible false wealth lock consisting of 34%, it is in the hands of thieves and warlords. Therefore the question arises, six months to local government elections “whiter democracy South Africa” as we infamously inter the mortal bones of the broken spirit of VBS.
As the physical remains of VBS Mutual Bank are auctioned off this March 2026—most notably the sprawling Rivonia headquarters that once stood as a monument to a hollowed-out prosperity—we are forced to confront more than just the winding down of a failed financial institution.
We are performing an autopsy on a systemic collapse of ethics, a divergence of capital from conscience that has left a permanent scar on the "census mesh" of South Africa’s most vulnerable regions.
To understand the gravity of the VBS disappearance, one must look beyond the liquidator’s balance sheets and toward the "Successor Ledgers" of Southern African philosophy, specifically the timeless laws of Morena Mohlomi. Mohlomi, the 18th-century sage and mentor to King Moshoeshoe I, taught that the true medicine for a village is a "good heart" (pelo e ntle).
He argued that a leader’s wealth is only validated by the wealth of his subjects. By this metric, the VBS saga is not merely a "Great Bank Heist"; it is a profound "epistemicide" of the ethical standards that should ground our democracy.
In my analysis, I often refer to the 2752 instruments—the crucial pillars of thought and measurement that authenticate the essence of our progress.
When we deploy these instruments to analyze the VBS fallout, the metadata is damning.
The 2018 Motau Report provided the initial diagnostic, but the long-term "Successor Ledgers" are found in the 2011 and 2022 Census results for districts like Vhembe, Greater Giyani, and Fetakgomo Tubatse.
The statistics at placenames found within these wards tell a story of stagnation. While the national narrative often speaks of "incremental progress," the census mesh in VBS-impacted municipalities reveals a "service delivery void."
In Vhembe, for instance, the loss of R270 million in unrecovered municipal funds correlates directly with the failure to expand piped water infrastructure at the rate required by population growth.
The money meant to transform a "placename" into a thriving community was instead diverted to satisfy the "vulture culture" of a predatory elite.
If we hold the VBS actors up to "Mohlomi’s Mirror," the reflection is unrecognizable. Mohlomi traveled the length and breadth of this subcontinent teaching that "the law knows no one as a poor man." He established the Mafisa system, where wealth was lent to the destitute to foster independence.
VBS did the inverse: it took the Mafisa of the poor—the burial society savings, the stokvel nets, and the municipal grants—and funneled them into luxury vehicles and Mediterranean holidays for a few.
Mohlomi’s primary law was Khotso (Peace). But peace, in the Mohlomi sense, is impossible without socio-economic harmony. When R2 billion disappears from the public purse, the resulting "high-density heat" of poverty causes the "rainbow" of our 1994 covenant to fade like vapor.
We see this in the 33% unemployment rate and the fact that only 15% of the black workforce is classified as "skilled"—a regression that is accelerated when the very institutions meant to empower the black middle class are hollowed out from within.
The liquidator, Anoosh Rooplal, has done a commendable job in recovering approximately 26 cents in the rand. But as the Lehohla Ledger reminds us, financial recovery is not social restoration. The auctioning of the Rivonia campus may close the books for the creditors, but it does not fix the dry taps in Thohoyandou or the unpaved roads in Mahikeng.
The "Successor Sages" of our era—the auditors, the municipal managers, and the political leaders—failed to heed the warning that when the "salt" (the integrity of our institutions) becomes tasteless, it is no longer good for anything except to be trampled underfoot. The VBS collapse was enabled by a "me-me politics" that ignored the technical metadata of risk in favor of the immediate gratification of greed.
As we look toward the future, South Africa needs more than just forensic reports; it needs a "sacred national effort" to rebuild the link between leadership and the "good heart." We must return to the "Architects' Toolkit" and ensure that our macroeconomic policies are fit for purpose and shielded from the corrupt hands that would borrow from international lenders only to settle debts with the pensions of the poor.
The winding down of VBS should serve as the ultimate "explanatory note" in our national ledger. It proves that without the "inner guide" that Mohlomi spoke of, even the most sophisticated financial instruments will fail.
The census mesh of 2022 has already recorded the damage. The question for 2026 and beyond is whether we have the political will to ensure that the next generation of "Successor Ledgers" records a story of restoration rather than further disappearance.
The law of Mohlomi is clear: "Rule by love, for a leader is a person through his people."
Until our balance sheets reflect that humanity, the shadow of VBS will continue to hang low over our democracy. No one even the 34% wealth lock of the cynical will be spared when the warlords gamble with democracy.
Just watch Zondo, watch Madlanga – the circus of criminality reveals its depth and the precipice at which we dance. If looting our mothers is the only way the invisible people can be visible. Nhleko’s book says spare us that moment. Economy which is what the Venda women did brought about that visibility.
Dr Pali Lehohla is a Professor of Practice at the University of Johannesburg, a Research Associate at Oxford University, and a distinguished Alumni of the University of Ghana. He is the former Statistician-General of South Africa.
Follow Business Report on Facebook, X and on LinkedIn for the latest Business and tech news.