In a newly-released video made by IOL, footage can be seen of the burglary that occured at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala Farm in Bela-Bela. It has now been established that the money, estimated to be $80 million (R1.24 billion), was allegedly stolen by five Namibians who conspired with his domestic worker in February 2020.
Ramaphosa is now rigorously criticized for allegedly failing to report the matter to any police station. Instead, it is believed that he paid the suspects and his domestic workers R150 000 each not to reveal the incident to anyone after they were traced and arrested.
Ramaphosa then allegedly solicited the services of his head of the Presidential Protection Unit, Major-General Wally Rhoode, to investigate the matter without involving the police. Rhoode was assisted by a neighbouring farmer in the investigation to trace the burglars.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, confirmed that there had indeed been a robbery at the president’s farm, but at the time claimed Ramaphosa’s innocence against the allegations of his involvement.
The admission came after former State Security Agency and Correctional Services director-general Arthur Fraser opened a criminal case against Ramaphosa at Rosebank police station. He claimed that the President withheld this information from the police and therefore breached the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.
The case was registered on Wednesday with Fraser saying Ramaphosa and Rhoode must both be investigated for money laundering, corruption, and kidnapping.
In Fraser’s affidavit, he added, “it is no small matter to lay criminal charges against a sitting President, but I am guided by the dictates of the interest of justice and our Constitution”.
“The incident was not officially reported to the police to investigate. However, President Ramaphosa instructed Major-General Rhoode to investigate the incident immediately, apprehend the suspects, and retrieve the stolen US$,” Fraser wrote in his affidavit to the police.
IOL’s Sunday Independent sent a list of questions to newly appointed Ramaphosa spokesperson Vincent Magwenya on Friday with a deadline of Saturday at 1pm, but these questions have thus far remained unanswered.
These are the questions the Sunday Independent sent:
- In your press statement released yesterday, you confirm that the President admitted that there was indeed a robbery at his wildlife game farm in Bela-Bela. Can the President confirm or deny that the money stolen was concealed in the furniture at his residence and that it wasn’t in a safe or a vault?
- Can the President confirm or deny that he paid all the five men, who were apprehended for the stealing at his farm, including his domestic worker who allegedly conspired with the robbers, R150 000 each in cash to buy their silence not to reveal to anyone about the robbery?
- How much was stolen in total?
- How much was recovered in total?
- How much was in the President’s residence in total at the time of the robbery?
- In your statement, you said the money stolen was “proceeds from the sale of game”. a) Did the President declare the live stock trade in his register of assets (can we see the declaration), b) Did he declare the foreign currency in hand before it was stolen (can we see the declaration), c) Can the President disclose which countries or persons he was trading with and d) Whether he had permits for such trade at the time?
- Is the President aware that the law, in this country, doesn’t allow an auctioneer to accept cash on site?
- Does the President have enough confidence in our police, if so, why didn’t he report this case to any police station instead of reporting it to the head of the Presidential Protection Unit?
- Can the President confirm or deny that he had arranged with his Namibian counterpart for Major-General Wally Rhoode to go to Namibia to trace one of the suspects, interrogate him and seize some of the money stolen from his farm and bring it back to South Africa?
- Is there anything the President would like to tell fellow South Africans about this robbery at his farm?
Instead, at about 2.42 pm Magewnya sent the Sunday Independent reporter a WhatsApp message saying: “… my apologies. Because of the volume of detailed questions we have received, most of which we cannot answer due to pending investigation, we are going to release a statement later to address the issue.”
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Picture: Cape {town} Etc gallery