President Cyril Ramaphosa walked a tightrope this weekend as he tried to shrug off the Phala Phala scandal after his ANC opponents sought to use it to dislodge him from both the party’s and country’s presidency.
Ramaphosa used his address to the party’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting on Friday to explain to the ANC top brass that he never sent anyone to hunt for the millions of US dollars that were stolen at his farm in 2020.
Ramaphosa used the meeting to try and explain himself to his comrades as the Phala Phala scandal continued to trouble his campaign for a second term amid a strong push for his challenger, former health minister Zweli Mkhize, to ascend the throne during the party’s elective conference.
A report emerged on Thursday purportedly from the party’s integrity commission (IC) which said it could not hold the president liable for the theft at his farm. Those opposed to Ramaphosa’s election as ANC president are now counting on the outcome of an independent panel appointed by parliament to probe whether he has a case to answer. The panel, headed by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, has until Thursday to consider evidence placed before it on the Phala Phala matter.
Opening the first physical NEC meeting of the governing party since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Ramaphosa admitted the theft at his farm had occured.
“The president said about $420 000 was stolen from his farm. He reaffirmed that there was no crime that happened because the proceeds were from game sales,” said an NEC member who attended the meeting at the Nasrec Expo Centre.
“He said he reported the matter to his head of security, who should have opened a case. He also explained that he never sent anyone to hunt for the money lost,” he added.
Ramaphosa’s security head, Wally Rhoode, is facing an internal police disciplinary hearing for failing to officially report the matter to the police and allegedly conducting a clandestine investigation.
Another NEC member said Ramaphosa held his own during the meeting.
“They thought the integrity commission was going to bury the president. It did not happen. It is now game over for the RET [radical economic transformation] faction,” said an official who is sympathetic to Ramaphosa.
However, another NEC member said it was expected that the commission would release its official report on Phala Phala although it has not yet been distributed among executives.
Several NEC members had planned to demand answers from the commission to explain why four months later it still cannot produce a report. However, on Thursday, the commission outlined progress made in the probe into the matter.
According to the report, the party’s NEC was too divided to discuss honestly and provide appropriate leadership on the Phala Phala saga. The commission said although the scandal had brought the ANC into disrepute, it could not conclude that Ramaphosa was implicated and therefore should step aside.
It recommended that Ramaphosa should rather take the NEC and the nation into confidence about what happened.
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