The SAPS said on Saturday that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s chief bodyguard, Wally Rhoode, is facing the music as recommended by the public protector for his role in the alleged Phala Phala game farm crime.
This is according to police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe, in response to claims from inside the police services headquarters that Rhoode was being shielded from disciplinary charges because he is Ramaphosa’s “blue-eyed boy.”
Sunday World heard that a police general was hounded and forced to resign from the SAPS after he tried to discipline Rhoode for his alleged role in the Phala Phala scandal, in which a disputed amount of illegal American dollars were stolen from the president’s farm in February 2020.
Shockingly, Lieutenant-General Samson “Sam” Shitlabane’s premature exit from police services comes just after he earlier this year received the National Commissioner’s Award for outstanding services at the National Excellence Awards 2023.
“The SAPS does not comment on personnel-related matters through the media,” Mathe said, adding that the public protector’s recommendations against Rhoode were being implemented concurrently with SAPS internal departmental processes.
Forced to resign from SAPS
However, high-ranking police officials said this week Shitlabane, who was a divisional commissioner for Protection and Security Services and Rhoode’s boss, was forced to resign from SAPS shortly after he moved to charge Rhoode on the back of the public protector’s recommendations in July.
A couple of months later, in September, Parliament announced that Shitlabane was the new chief of security. The move also meant that he was out of police service, as he would be reporting to Parliament.
The position is nonetheless a promotion since it ranks at the level of a director general and is therefore equivalent to that of national commissioner General Fannie Masemola.
Parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said then that Shitlabane “boasts a wealth of experience as a high-ranking police official, having held various key positions within the police services since 1995.” Shitlabane is also a former uMkhonto we Sizwe cadre and part of the late President Nelson Mandela’s security team.
According to reports, Shitlabane was blamed for two security breaches around Ramaphosa and subsequently redeployed to visible policing. But those sympathetic to him said he was overlooked for a promotion and suspected to be close to Ramaphosa’s political critics.
Shitlabane first served Rhoode with a notice of intent to suspend him around September last year after studying his responses to the questions from the public protector, where he confirmed his trip to Namibia with Ramaphosa’s special advisor, Bejani Chauke.
Blue-eyed boy
News24 reported that potential charges weighed against him, including allegations that he supplied false information about the reason he undertook the Namibia trip with Chauke in June 2020; gave an instruction for the protection services occurrence book to be removed from a central office of the unit; and conducted his own investigation outside police processes. But he was then yet to be served with a formal suspension notice.
Surprisingly, Rhoode showed up at the ANC’s national elective conference last December, driving a brand new BMW X5, and boasting to colleagues that he is not going anywhere because he has support from above.
By January this year, the matter seemingly did not progress any further, with questions already asked about whether Rhoode was off the hook. City Press reported then that Rhoode had a bad relationship with his Shitlabane due to power struggles within the police service.
Rhoode is seen as Ramaphosa’s “blue-eyed boy” and served as the president’s head of security during his CR17 campaign, which led him to the highest office in the land.
Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka, in her report, recommended that Rhoode and police officer Hlulani Rikhotso face disciplinary action within 60 days. Gcaleka accused Rhoode of improperly using state resources to conduct a clandestine cross-border investigation into Namibia, hunting for Ramaphosa’s stolen millions.
Shitlabane tried to discipline Rhoode as per Gcaleka’s recommendation but was shown the door after service by the head of the presidential protection service with a notice to suspend him.
A general in the SAPS who asked not to be named told Sunday World that after Rhoode received the letter intending to suspend him, he ran straight to the president.
Drive to Namibia
The general added that Shitlabane was hounded and even forced to stay at home after he initially refused to resign. “He was eventually moved to visible policing as a punishment and then forced to resign from the SAPS,” the general added.
“He is no longer with the SAPS because he tried to do the right thing and discipline Wally, which didn’t go well with the powers that be,” another police source, who asked not to be named, said.
Shitlabane yesterday refused to make any comment, citing that he is not authorised to speak to the media, even those he retired from the SAPS.
Rhoode is accused of using a state vehicle, also a BMW X5, to drive Chauke to Namibia shortly after the alleged Phala Phala heist mastermind, Imanuwela David, was arrested there for entering the country illegally.
David canoed to Namibia through the Orange River, allegedly carrying R8 million in cash stolen from Ramaphosa’s farm, and entered the country without permission.
Rhoode claims he was instructed to drive Chauke to Namibia, where he had a meeting with Ramaphosa’s counterpart, President Hage Geingob.
