Durban - The ANC on Wednesday prevented another bid by the opposition to revive the Phala Phala probe after it voted - 204 to the opposition’s 135 votes - against the motion to establish an ad hoc committee to investigate the matter.
However, opposition parties say there is still an urgent need for the National Assembly to conduct its own investigation, in line with its Constitutional obligations to maintain oversight.
Here are five key points to note how the scandal has unfolded:
- February 2020: A robbery took place at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s private game farm in Limpopo, and it was later reported that around $4 million was taken from a couch. Ramaphosa allegedly failed to report the robbery.
- June 2022: Former spy boss Arthur Fraser laid charges against the president, claiming that police found the suspects, and some of the money was returned, and the suspects were paid for their silence. It is also alleged that one of the suspects had been interrogated while in Namibia by the head of the Presidential Protection Unit, Major-General Wally Rhoode, following apparent intervention by Namibian President Hage Geingob. The Namibian government denied any involvement, while Ramaphosa alluded to a political agenda.
- November 2022: Ramaphosa delivered his submission on the Phala Phala probe, and he maintained he did nothing wrong. Sandile Ngcobo’s three-member Independent Section 89 Panel released the Phala Phala report, finding prima facie evidence that Ramaphosa had violated his oath of office.
- March 2023: A preliminary report by public protector Kholeka Gcaleka clears Ramaphosa of any wrongdoing with regard to the theft from his Phala Phala farm in Limpopo. Gcaleka found that the then-head of the South African Police Service (SAPS) presidential protection service (PPS), General Wally Rhoode, and other members conducted themselves improperly in investigating the crime.
- March 2023: The SA Revenue Service (Sars) claims to have no record of the supposed transaction’s dollars. A Sars deputy information officer’s PAIA response stated: “I have engaged with the relevant business units within Sars, and I am satisfied that, as at the date of this letter, after reasonable steps were taken to find the record requested in your PAIA application, the record does not exist and/or cannot be found.”
Sars lawyer Siyabonga Nkabinde’s affidavit revealed that the tax authority had conducted searches for the record in various Sars passenger processing systems, the declaration “could not be found and/or may not be in existence”.