The DA has welcomed the announcement by South African Reserve Bank (SARB) governor Lesetja Kganyago that the more than 20 000 depositors of VBS Mutual Bank, whose future hangs in the balance, will be able to withdraw their money as long as it does not exceed R100 000.
Alf Lees, the DA's spokesperson for finance, said although the party was pleased that ordinary citizens who deposited money with VBS would be able to get their money back, it would not reverse the problems caused by the apparent looting of the bank.
"Clients will be able to withdraw all their funds or leave them with Nedbank, but will need to have withdrawn all the money within three years," he said.
"However, we are concerned that monies deposited by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) and several municipalities with VBS may not be recovered.
"If these public monies are not recovered, state employees and citizens of various municipalities will be the hardest hit. The PIC manages the pension funds of millions of state employees and their savings have now been placed at risk."
Lees said citizens of the affected municipalities would also be deprived of basic services should this money not be retrieved. This, he said, showed that corruption was not a victimless crime.
He said the opposition party would continue to hold those who loot public funds accountable and would "not tolerate corruption".
Earlier on Monday at a press conference Kganyago said the guarantees didn't extend to municipal and corporate deposits.
"Following discussions with National Treasury, government has provided a guarantee to the SARB to facilitate the repayment of all retail deposits up to R100 000 per retail depositor, starting from Friday, 13 July," he said.
"Retail deposits are defined as deposits in VBS by individuals, burial societies, stokvels and saving clubs, collectively referred to as retail depositors."