Durban — While Christmas Day is the most widely observed holiday in South Africa, with many businesses closing to allow employees to spend time with their families, it is also the day when a large cash transaction occurred in President Cyril Ramaphosa's Phala Phala farm in Limpopo in 2019.
The now infamous transaction is under scrutiny as the independent panel which was investigating the matter handed its report to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Nosiviwe Maphisa-Nqakula.
The panel had to determine whether Ramaphosa had the case to answer on the money that was stolen from his farm following the transaction. In the submission made by Ramaphosa to the panel, he detailed his version of what transpired on the farm.
He stated that on December 25, 2019, he went to Phala Phala. While there, the Lodge Manager, stated as Mr Ndlovu, informed him about what had transpired the previous day at the farm.
“At the time, the general manager, a Mr von Wielligh, was on leave. Mr Ndlovu said that: Mr Mustafa Mohamed Ibrahim Hazim, a citizen of Sudan, came to the farm to view buffaloes that were for sale.
“Mr Ndlovu showed Mr Hazim the buffaloes in Camp 6 and Mr Hazim identified those that he liked the look of. Mr Hazim made payment in cash in the sum of US$580 000 to Mr Ndlovu,” he wrote in his affidavit.
Ramaphosa further explained that after Hazim had left Phala Phala, Ndlovu took the money and locked it in the safe at the Bayeto Centre office, another section of building within the farm.
He said when Ndlovu spoke to him on December 26 2019, the cash he had received was still in the safe at the Bayeto Centre.
“I was heading to Cape Town for the remainder of the festive season and since Mr von Wielligh was away, I said the money ought to be kept on the farm until Mr von Wielligh would have the opportunity to process matters related to the transaction and thereafter have the money banked.
“I left the farm on 27 December 2019,” he added.
It was Ndlovu Ndlovu who removed the cash from the safe only to be stolen, Ramaphosa continued.
“Ndlovu was due to go home on leave on 30 December 2019. He felt uncomfortable about leaving the money in the safe at the Bayeto Centre, because he was concerned that several staff members had access to the safe.
“He decided that the safest place to store the money was inside my private residence on the farm. He stored the money below cushions of a sofa in a spare bedroom that is hardly ever used, inside my private residence, because he thought it was the safest place, as he believed nobody would break into the president’s house.
“I have no personal knowledge of the theft itself. The following is what I can attest to personally: On 10 February 2020 – the day after the theft – I was advised by Mr von Wielligh that there was a security breach at Phala Phala farm. At the time, I was in Addis Ababa, to chair the African Union Assembly Summit Meeting,” he added.
Ramaphosa maintained that it was Major-General Wally Rhoode, the head of the Presidential Protection Service who was tasked to deal with the matter, including opening a case with police.
"It was agreed that Major-General Rhoode would confer with his superiors and revert to me on the way forward. I trusted that General Rhoode would take the necessary steps from a security point of view regarding my safety following the security breach at my residence , and take any other steps required to report and deal with the information I had shared with him," he said.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE