Ramaphosa cleared, others go under the bus
Durban - President Cyril Ramaphosa appeared upbeat on Saturday as he embarked on an election drive in KwaDukuza, on the North Coast.
Accompanied by the ANC leaders in KZN, he began with a walkabout in Stanger, handing out pamphlets, and encouraging people to register to vote for the ANC.
He also visited the grave of Chief Albert Luthuli in Groutville, where he said the ANC’s “campaign wheels” were in motion for the 2024 general elections.
He would not respond to questions on Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka’s preliminary report into the Phala Phala farm robbery scandal, which appeared to have exonerated him. “The less said about the report, the better,” said Ramaphosa.
“I have noted the report, that’s all I can say. “Once the preliminary report has been issued, the less said the better because she still has to issue the final report.”
Gcaleka, it would appear, wants the president’s adviser Bejani Chauke, the head of presidential protection services, General Wally Rhoode, and police officer Sergeant Hlulani Rikhotso to fall on their swords.
In a report Gcaleka sent to the interested parties for consideration, she reported that Rhoode and Rikhotso contravened SAPS regulations and that the national police commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, should take appropriate action against the officers within 60 days.
This is despite confirmation from the SA Revenue Service (Sars) this week that it could not find any record that Sudanese businessman Hazim Mustafa, who allegedly paid $580000 in cash to buy 20 buffaloes from Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm, declared the cash when he landed at OR Tambo International Airport on December 23, 2019.
Gcaleka does not think there is anything fishy. Sars was responding to DA leader John Steenhuisen, who filed a Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) request to the revenue service.
He had asked for a copy of Mustafa’s declaration form after the businessman told journalists that he had declared the $600000 cash to customs.
Gcaleka recorded that the president had fulfilled his obligations by declaring his interests in his farms and had reported the farm robbery to Rhoode, who is also a police officer. She also recorded that the president had declared his interests in Phala Phala in a confidential register of the members’ interests in Parliament.
Gcaleka recorded that there was no evidence that Rhoode reported the matter to the SAPS. Former national police commissioner, General Khehla Sitole, whom Rhoode reported to, told the public protector investigators that he was not aware of such report from the head of the presidential protection unit.
Gcaleka also recorded that Rhoode and Rikhotso abused their positions and violated police conduct by launching a secret investigation and used state resources to trace the men who had robbed Ramaphosa’s farm. She confirmed reports that Chauke had travelled to Namibia with Rhoode, where Ramaphosa’s adviser met with Namibian President Hein Geingob. She recorded that the trip was improper even though it was approved by Sitole.
Gcaleka, in her report, supported former state security director-general Arthur Fraser, who opened the criminal case against Ramaphosa and Rhoode at the Rosebank police station on June 1, 2022 that the robbers were traced and apprehended. Fraser, in his affidavits, said the robbers were tortured and Rikhotso told the public protector investigators that the robbers were found and taken to Phala Phala farm, where they were interviewed.
Fraser supplied photos of the robbers with their hands behind their backs while they were allegedly being interviewed by Rikhotso and Rhoode.
There is also a video of the men being tortured and tubed. It is believed that Gcaleka, in her report, has not touched on exactly how much was stolen from Phala Phala and how much was recovered. Namibian authorities traced more than R7 million that the men transferred from South Africa to various beneficiaries in their home country. Gcaleka gave the interested parties 10 working days to respond
SUNDAY TRIBUNE