President Cyril Ramaphosa’s director-general (DG), Phindile Baleni, has received a chilling death threat, warning that she would be assassinated if she failed to convince the head of state not to act on the findings of the Zondo Commission into State Capture.
We have it on good authority that two weeks ago, an unknown person flung a letter containing a bullet in Baleni’s driveway. In the letter, Baleni – who is Ramaphosa’s most senior administrative staffer running the Presidency – was warned that she would die in a hail of bullets similar to the gruesome assassination of the late Gauteng department of health official, Babita Deokaran, if she does not stop the president from acting on the Zondo Commission report.
Sunday World understands that another demand contained in the letter is the release of Deokaran’s alleged killers.
Following a query by this publication, the Presidency last night issued a statement that confirmed what Sunday World sources had revealed.
In the statement, the Presidency said Baleni has reported the matter to security agencies. “She is receiving protection to enable her to continue her critical duties as director-general of the Presidency, cabinet secretary and convenor of the Forum of South African Directors-General.”
Police Minister Bheki Cele yesterday equated the threat to an attack on the state.
Speaking to Sunday World on the sidelines of the KwaZulu-Natal crime summit held in Durban yesterday, Cele said police viewed the threats as serious. “It is equal to attacking the state. I know that there is an investigation by the Hawks on the threat, including the allegations raised by Arthur Fraser.”
He raised concerns on the continuous targeting of public servants viewed as fighting corruption. “Unlike the Babita matter, fortunately on this one the information relating to the threat against the DG was discovered quick and precautionary measures are being implemented,” said Cele.
Presidency insiders said the threat against Baleni was part of a well-coordinated campaign to intimidate the president in his fight against corruption as people implicated in state capture grow increasingly desperate and worried that they will soon be arrested.
Threats to Baleni’s life came just before state capture-related arrests of former Transnet Freight Rail CEO Siyabonga Gama and the state company’s group treasurer,Phetolo Ramosebudi.
The two appeared in court with Gupta-linked Trillian Capital Partners boss Gavin Woods. They are facing charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering relating to a R93-million payment that Transnet made to Trillian in December 2015.
This comes in a dramatic week during which it came to light that a robbery occurred at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in Limpopo in which cash was stolen in February 2020, while the commander-in-chief was attending an African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
While Ramaphosa claims it was the proceeds of the sale of game and did not disclose the amount taken, former State Security Agency head Fraser has made sensational claims in an affidavit that criminals and the president’s maid colluded to take $4-million (R61.8-million) during the burglary.
Fraser laid a complaint at the Rosebank police station and said in a statement that Ramaphosa concealed the crime and paid the culprits for their silence.
However, the president said Fraser’s criminal conduct claims had no basis and that he reported the incident to the SA Police Service’s head of the presidential protection unit, Wally Rhoode.
In what is purportedly an extract from Fraser’s affidavit, he claims that the break-in at the farm was captured by internal and external security cameras at the farmhouse. “The security camera footage referred to herein was also handed to me by a member of Major-General Rhoode’s team,” he said.
Rhoode could not be reached for comment.
The burglary has once again raised serious concerns about Ramaphosa’s safety in the last few months in the run-up to the ANC’s elective conference in December.
ANC economic transformation subcommittee chairperson Mamoloko Kubayi said security breaches around the president were worrying.
Kubayi, who is human settlements minister and co-chairperson of cabinet’s economic cluster, warned that the president was being attacked for doing his job and his efforts to renew the governing party. The former tourism minister drew a line in the sand, saying while the party was preparing for its December conference – with the run-up plagued by a tug-of-war between Ramaphosa’s supporters and those of suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule – there was still a party and a country to preserve.
“Remember this is the head of state. Protection of the government is the responsibility of the state. The question I’m asking is, where was the security? Because we need that assurance that our president is safe. How did he [Fraser] get this information?
“What we can’t as an organisation, not only the president, allow is a situation where people think ‘if I’m to go down, I will go down with the ANC and the country’. It is not going to be allowed,” she said.
Kubayi added that it was good that the Ramaphosa lived up to his promise of being accountable and transparent by explaining the farm matter.
The president has also drawn criticism for keeping cash on his farm. The DA has written to the South African Revenue Service and the South African Reserve Bank to probe Ramaphosa’s compliance to tax and regulations and controls on the limit in the amount of foreign exchange a person may hold.
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