Vuka Azania leader Advocate Muzi Sikhakhane says the Phala Phala case exposed a legal system too closely aligned with political and economic power.
Sikhakhane said the dispute could not be reduced to one judgment, one judge or even President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Parliamentary impeachment case.
He was speaking to the media in Sandton in Johannesburg on Friday, just few hours after the Western Cape High Court temporarily halted Parliament’s impeachment proceedings against Ramaphosa over the stolen stacks of cash hidden in a sofa at his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo in 2020.
“The problem is that in every rotten country, the judiciary aligns with the ruling elites,” Sikhakhane responded to a question at the launch of Vuka Azania, a non-profit company constituted as a think tank and decolonial advocacy body, where he was revealed as one of the founding figures, alongside former spy chief Arthur Fraser, cleric Allan Boesak and academic Isaac Shai.
He went further, arguing that parts of the judiciary remained trapped in what he described as “settler-colonial” thinking.
For Sikhakhane, the court proceedings have reinforced the case for a fundamental overhaul of the country’s constitutional and judicial order.
“We need newness,” he said.
“We need to create a judiciary and a constitution that take seriously issues of wrongdoing in the country – whether it is by those who are in power, those who do not have power, or those who are supported by people in power.”
He said the central scandal was no longer only the foreign currency concealed at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm but that institutions had turned what he regarded as obvious wrongdoing into a complicated legal dispute.
“The fact that we sit here in this country and we are debating whether it is wrong for a head of state to have millions of dollars in a couch – in his couch – tells you the level of depravity in society,” Sikhakhane said.
“It shouldn’t be a debate.”
He said South Africa had reached a point where lawyers had to cite judgments and argue competing interpretations before the country could decide whether a president keeping large amounts of foreign currency in furniture was acceptable.
“The fact that this country has to debate something so obviously wrong, with case law cited for us to know whether it is right or wrong, is a reflection on the country,” he said.
Sikhakhane also took aim at the South African Revenue Service and the Reserve Bank, saying their findings had contributed to a situation in which the president’s possession of the currency appeared to have been institutionally normalised.
Fraser told Sunday World that further action will follow his Phala Phala disclosures, declaring that he does not make public threats but acts when he is ready.
Asked what the public should expect from other “scandals” he had previously mentioned, Fraser refused to disclose his next move.
“Watch this space.”
Pressed on how long the wait would be, he indicated that new revelations would come much sooner.
“We’ll engage. We’ll engage. But not now,” Fraser said.
“I don’t talk. I act.”
His June 2022 criminal complaint exposed the previously undisclosed February 2020 theft at Ramaphosa’s Limpopo farm.
Fraser has yet to identify the other issues in his war chest, provide evidence of further wrongdoing or say whether he intends to approach the police, Parliament or the courts.
The court order on Friday does not terminate the impeachment process. The committee may continue preparatory work, but its hearings are suspended pending the review, which is expected to be heard in September.
- Advocate Muzi Sikhakhane criticized South Africa’s judiciary for aligning with political elites, linking this to the Phala Phala case involving President Cyril Ramaphosa.
- Sikhakhane called for a fundamental overhaul of the country’s constitutional and judicial systems to address wrongdoing impartially.
- The Western Cape High Court temporarily halted Ramaphosa’s Parliamentary impeachment hearings over the stolen cash found at his Phala Phala farm.
- Former spy chief Arthur Fraser, involved in exposing the case, hinted at upcoming revelations related to other undisclosed scandals.
- The impeachment process is paused pending a court review expected in September, but preparatory committee work may continue.
Vuka Azania leader Advocate Muzi
He was speaking to the media in
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He went further, arguing that parts of the judiciary remained trapped in what he described as “settler-colonial” thinking.
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“We need newness,” he said.
“We need to create a judiciary and a constitution that take seriously issues of wrongdoing in the country – whether it is by those who are in power, those who do not have power, or those who are supported by people in power.”
He said the central scandal was no longer only the foreign currency concealed at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm but that institutions had turned what he regarded as obvious wrongdoing into a complicated legal dispute.
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“It shouldn’t be a debate.”
He said
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Fraser told
Asked what the public should expect from other “scandals” he had previously mentioned, Fraser refused to disclose his next move.
“Watch this space.”
Pressed on how long the wait would be, he indicated that new revelations would come much sooner.
“We’ll engage. We’ll engage. But not now,” Fraser said.
“I don’t talk. I act.”
His June 2022 criminal complaint exposed the previously undisclosed February 2020 theft at Ramaphosa’s Limpopo farm.
Fraser has yet to identify the other issues in his war chest, provide evidence of further wrongdoing or say whether he intends to approach the police, Parliament or the courts.
