Johannesburg - A case of housebreaking and robbery at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in Bela-Bela was mysteriously opened in August this year at the local police station.
The Sunday Independent can today exclusively reveal that the Phala Phala farm manager mysteriously went to Bela-Bela Police Station in August this year and opened a case of housebreaking and robbery, more than two years after the robbery occurred.
The move piqued the interest of senior police officers, who questioned the timing and the conduct of colleagues at the station. A senior police officer yesterday told the publication that police at Bela-Bela should have charged the person who opened the case for defeating the ends of justice.
“They failed to report the case to the police for more than two years and now, out of the blue, when everything is in the public domain, someone goes to the police station and opens a case. That person should have been charged for defeating the ends of justice and for wasting the police’s time,” the officer said.
A politician, who asked not to be named, says if Ramaphosa sanctions the opening of this case, he is as guilty as the person who opened the case.
“What exactly do they hope to achieve by opening this case? The crime scene has been tampered with for more than two years, and the president should have known better,” the politician said.
“If he wanted justice for the robbery at his farm, he should have reported the matter to the police in February 2020 -- unless he has something to hide.”
The case comes two years after robbers made off with an undisclosed amount of American dollars from Ramaphosa's property. Police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda yesterday failed to answer questions sent to him about the case.
Five Namibian nationals allegedly broke into Ramaphosa’s farm on February 9, 2020, and helped themselves to US dollars that were concealed in furniture at the farm, including a mattress. But the president and his head of security, General Wally Rhoode, didn’t report the robbery to any police station.
Former state security director-general Arthur Fraser was the first to make the public aware of the robbery, when he opened a criminal case of kidnapping and torture against Ramaphosa and Rhoode at Rosebank Police Station in June this year.
In his affidavit, Fraser claims that Ramaphosa and Rhoode didn’t report the matter to the police because they wanted to hide the fact that the president was keeping an undisclosed amount of dollars, estimated to be between $4 million to $8m at the farm. He further claimed Ramaphosa never declared or disclosed the source of the funds to the South African Revenue Services (SARS).
Fraser also added that the robbers were traced and pinged using state resources. He further claimed that members of the SAPS, even though no case was opened, participated in the clandestine operation.
He added that after the robbers were apprehended in a rented house in Milnerton, Cape Town, they were allegedly kidnapped and tortured.
The former spy boss added that Rhoode “instructed” Ramaphosa to pay the robbers R150 000 each for their silence, so they wouldn’t reveal any details about their alleged torture or the robbery to the public.
Ramaphosa admitted in Parliament and a press statement that there was indeed a robbery of an undisclosed amount of US dollars, and that no case had been opened with the police, as he was hoping that Rhoode, to whom he reported the robbery at his farm, would open the case.
Rhoode also admitted, in his response to the Public Protector investigation, that he had not opened any case with the police about the robbery.
The new revelations come as the independent panel appointed by Parliament to probe the Phala Phala allegations against Ramaphosa started work on the case on Wednesday. The Speaker of Parliament, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, was forced to appoint a panel to determine whether Ramaphosa has a prima facie case to answer on the Phala Phala farm robbery.
The panel has 30 days to report back to Parliament. All members of Parliament were given six days to submit evidence to the panel, while Ramaphosa would be given 10 days to provide his written responses to all the evidence submitted.
Former president Thabo Mbeki yesterday argued that the ANC should prepare itself for a worse case scenario where the panel rules that Ramaphosa has “a case to answer”.
Mbeki said Ramaphosa is under a lot of pressure around the Phala Phala farm matter as “there are criminal investigations going on” around him.
Speaking at the annual general meeting of the Strategic Dialogue Group (SDG) in Johannesburg yesterday, Mbeki asked what would happen if the panel says Ramaphosa has a case to answer.
“The leadership of the ANC cannot avoid meeting to discuss that. In the light of that, what do we do? Do we say to the president he must step aside, or do we say, let it continue through the parliamentary process? What is the impact of that in the public mind?” Mbeki asked.
Ramaphosa is being probed by the panel after African Transformation Movement (ATM) leader Vuyolwethu Zungula lodged a complaint with Mapisa-Nqakula that the president might have violated the Constitution and his oath of office.
Zungula also wrote to suspended Public Protector advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, asking her to investigate Ramaphosa. The president suspended Mkhwebane a day after she sent him a list of 30 questions to answer on the Phala Phala farm robbery.
Mkhwebane is also facing a Parliamentary inquiry on her fitness to hold office, and is fighting her suspension in court. The Western Cape high court initially ruled that Mkhwebane’s suspension was “unlawful”.
The court ruled that it was “reasonable to form the perception that the suspension” of Mkhwebane “was triggered by her decision to institute an investigation against the president”.
“There is no other plausible or logical explanation for the premature suspension of the applicant on the eve of a judgment meant to determine the very lawfulness of the suspension,” the court ruled.
But Ramaphosa and the opposition DA party have appealed the ruling.