The Section 89 Panel of experts probing whether President Cyril Ramaphosa had a case to answer regarding what has become known as the Phala Phala farmgate has slated the conduct of state institutions in the whole saga.
The panel, chaired by retired chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, fell short of saying the South African Police Service (SAPS), South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and parliament acted in cahoots to shield Ramaphosa from accountability.
“We are concerned that we have not been given all the information that is presently available on the Phala Phala issue,” reads the panel’s 88 pages report in part.
“We know that SARB has been investigating the matter since around June 2022, yet we have not been furnished with the outcome of the investigation. Officials of the SARB and the SAPS appeared in one of the committees of parliament, yet the record of these proceedings has not been made available.”
It concluded that Ramaphosa had committed serious misconduct and breached his oath of office and had exposed himself to a conflict of interest.
“Viewed as a whole, the information presented to the panel, prima facie established that there was a deliberate intention not to investigate the crimes committed at Phala Phala openly,” found the panel in a report released on Wednesday evening for public’s consumption.
The matter stems from allegations by former head of correctional services Arthur Fraser, who opened a case that the president had willingly and knowingly concealed a crime at his farm where millions of US dollars were stolen.
Fraser charged that in trying to recover the money, the president had gone on a clandestine operation where state resources were unleashed to hunt down the alleged perpetrators of Namibian origin.
Suspended head of Ramaphosa’s protection unit, Major-General Wally Rhoode is said to have led the coveted mission. He is alleged to have solicited the services of other private investigators destined for Namibia to recover the stolen funds.
While the panel’s recommendations were not binding on Ramaphosa’s fate, the president will still have to answer to parliament on Tuesday, where MPs are set to debate the content of the report and deliberate whether Ramaphosa should be exonerated or impeached.
The African Transformation Movement, EFF and UDM are some of the leading parties calling for Ramaphosa’s head.
The political developments happen just after less than two weeks before what is expected to be a watershed ANC elective conference convenes in Nasrec near Soweto, where Ramaphosa is seeking re-election.
Regardless of what the parliamentarians find, the president’s detractors are expected to use the report to hound him out of office using the party’s step-aside resolution.
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