Tshwarelo Hunter Mogakane
Pretoria - Leader of the African Transformation Movement (ATM), Vuyo Zungula, has tabled an official motion requesting Parliament to investigate President Cyril Ramaphosa’s possible involvement in the concealment of theft that took place at his Phala Phala farm in Waterberg, Limpopo.
He cited “overwhelming prima facie evidence against” the president, and the fact that almost all heads of law enforcement agencies were his appointees as the reason why a parliamentary committee was needed to probe the $4 million robbery.
Zungula’s official motion followed the rejection of a motion the ATM party erroneously tabled during a parliamentary sitting on Monday.
National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Ngakula advised that the party should write a formal motion for the matter to be considered.
“In terms of Rule 129A of the National Assembly rules, the ATM is moving a substantiated motion to establish a Section 89 Committee Inquiry following the overwhelming prima facie evidence against President Ramaphosa for constitutional violations as contemplated in section 89 of the Constitution of the Republic.
“It is common cause that Mr Arthur Fraser has submitted evidence at the Rosebank police station, where the president is implicated in serious crimes including bribery, money laundering, kidnapping, breaching of customs and excise laws, breaching of Sars regulations, breaching Prevention of the Organised Crime Act, defeating the ends of justice, to mention but a few.
“It is not clear how finality will be reached on these matters because the heads of all the institutions that must investigate these crimes are appointees of President Ramaphosa,” said Zungula.
His party would only focus on areas where transgressions were neither contested nor in dispute. “Incidentally these are the areas where Parliament has exclusive jurisdiction. First, there is prima facie evidence that the president has violated s83(b) through violating Section 96(2)(a) of the Constitution, which says members of the Cabinet and deputy ministers may not “undertake any other paid work”.
“In response to widely publicised criminal allegations by Mr Arthur Fraser, the president, while addressing Limpopo ANC conference delegates and media is on record saying ‘I am a farmer, I am in the cattle business and the game business... I buy and I sell animals... This that is being reported was a clear business transaction of selling animals’.
“In his own words the president has confirmed that he is actively running his farming business and thus, contrary to the provisions of the Constitution as cited above, the president is doing other paid work. The evidence of this confirmation of violation of the Constitution is in the (attached) YouTube clip. This also means the president misled the nation when in 2014, on assuming office as deputy president (when) he said that all his business interests would be managed by a blind trust,” Zungula wrote.
He implored Parliament to consider the fact that the theft of an unconfirmed amount of money in foreign currency was personally reported to Ramaphosa, who took it upon himself to report the matter to the head of Presidential Protection Unit, Major-General Wally Roode. He said it was unlawful for Ramaphosa to report the matter to his protectors instead of a police station.
“(This) confirms the direct and personal involvement of the president in his private business activities. Second, the fact that a member of the Presidential Protection Unit was directed to deal with security issues in the private farm was in violation of the Constitution s96(2)(b). Third, the president failed to exercise duty placed upon him to report the theft in his farm as enjoined to do so by Chapter 2 of the Prevention and Combating Corrupt Activities Act of 2004, section 34(1). It is not in dispute that the president did not report the matter to the police as required by the law.
“Fourth, in terms of section 34(2) of the act provides that any person who fails to report such corrupt activities is guilty of an offence. The president is undoubtedly guilty of this. There is no case number because even the manner in which the purported report was made was irregular and unlawful.”
Pretoria News