The African Transformation Movement (ATM) has given the Speaker of the National Assembly, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, a deadline to respond to its request for a section 89 inquiry into the allegations of theft and money-laundering at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm.
On Monday, party leader Vuyo Zungula raised concerns about the delayed response, noting that the party would explore other avenues should the Mapisa-Nqakula fail to respond by 4pm on Wednesday.
“We submitted a letter raising a motion to your office for the establishment of a section 89 committee inquiry in terms of rule 129A, yet there is no formal communication from the Speaker’s office with regards to our request,” said Zungula.
“As part of being objective and ensuring that the work of parliament is unhindered, the Speaker must prioritise such matters, especially where there are accusations of this magnitude against the president [Cyril Ramaphosa].
“Seeing that two weeks have passed since our submission and no formal response has been received from your office beyond the elaborated acknowledgment of receipt dated the 17 June, we are giving the Speaker until [4pm on 28 June] to respond to the motion raised by the ATM, failing which, we will explore other remedies open to us.”
In her response on Monday, Mapisa-Nqakula said she is still applying her mind. “Please be assured that your motion is receiving due consideration. I am applying my regarding compliance of the motion with the constitution and the rules,” she said.
Section 89 of the constitution provides for the National Assembly to remove a president from office on the grounds of serious violation of the constitution, misconduct, and inability to perform the functions of the office.
In the letter dated June 14, Zungula said: “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 [SA Revenue Service] regulations, breaching of Prevention of Organised Crime Act, defeating the ends of justice, to mention but a few.”
According to Zungula, Ramaphosa violated S83(b) of the constitution which enjoins him as head of state to uphold, defend and respect the constitution as the supreme law of the republic.
In the letter, Zungula also raised concerns about the teams that have been appointed to investigate alleged fraud and corruption that took place at the president’s farm.
“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. ATM will focus only on the areas where transgressions are neither contested nor in dispute. Incidentally, these are the areas where parliament has exclusive jurisdiction.”
The ATM is resolute to hold the president accountable. On Tuesday last week, the party wrote to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) requesting the suspension of all the police officers linked with the allegations of concealing the crime at Phala Phala farm.
This after accusations that top officials including national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola and his predecessor, Khehla Sitole knew about the crime.
Zungula said he is also concerned about claims that the police in Namibia met their South African counterparts after the crime in “no man’s land” in June 2020 to share operational information regarding David Imanuwela, who is one of the men suspected of breaking into Ramaphosa’s farm in February 2020 and later fled to Namibia.
In a letter to IPID, Zungula said these claims showed that they were all in cahoots in the alleged cover-up.
“These are very serious and damning allegations that have the potential to erode the confidence of the public in the South African Police Service. It is against this background that the ATM is requesting that the conduct of the police is investigated, and if substantiated, the corrective action be taken against all the affected individuals.
“The ATM is also very concerned that the very same officials will be overseeing the current criminal investigation where they are implicated. The ATM strongly recommends that all the affected police officers should be suspended pending the investigation into their alleged complicity.”
The ATM is among many other parties concerned about the delayed response from the National Assembly.
The DA has also written to Mapisa-Nqakula requesting an urgent establishment of an ad hoc committee to investigate the Phala Phala scandal before August.
“This is in addition to the nine action steps the DA announced last week to get to the bottom of what really happened at Phala Phala,” said DA leader John Steenhuisen.
Parliament, which is currently in recess, announced last week that it would only deal with urgent matters when MPs return to work. However, Steenhuisen said it was in the Speaker’s hands to prioritise the request and prove that parliament is independent.
Steenhuisen said: “Since parliament is currently in recess, the duty to establish such an ad-hoc committee rests entirely with the Speaker of the National Assembly.
“And given parliament’s scandalous history of failing to hold former president [Jacob] Zuma to account in the Nkandla scandal – and the firm rebuke it received from then chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng for this dereliction of duty – it is critical that the Speaker demonstrate parliament’s commitment to its constitutional duty and the oath of office that each of its members swore.”
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