Cape Town - The Section 89 independent panel probing President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm scandal has all the evidence to conclude that he has a case to answer.
This is according to ATM leader Vuyo Zungula who has been leading the charge to have Ramaphosa held accountable over the Farmgate scandal.
The panel is expected to hand over its report to National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on Wednesday.
Zungula said on Tuesday that evidence showed there was a prima facie case.
“We hope the report will speak to those facts regarding paid work, the risk of conflict of interest and the unlawful instruction handed to the Presidential Protection Unit.
“The report is not expected to say the president must be impeached. It’s expected to say, based on the evidence at hand, it will be worth it for Parliament to look into the matter via an impeachment committee. We believe the panel has all the evidence to come to that conclusion,” said Zungula.
The panel, consisting of former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, former head of the Gauteng High Court Division, Judge Thokozile Masipa and advocate Mahlape Sello has spent almost two months going through evidence to see whether the president committed an impeachable offence following the burglary at the farm.
Mapisa-Nqakula has invited chief whips and party representatives to the handover and it is believed that it would be publicly available almost immediately.
Opposition parties wanted Mapisa-Nqakula to convene an ad hoc committee so that the matter could be investigated in a similar manner to the Nkandla matter involving former president Jacob Zuma, but she rejected this in preference to the independent panel.
Parliament goes into recess on Friday, but the National Assembly has resolved that a hybrid plenary would sit on December 6 to discuss the report.
The Presidency earlier this month denied that Ramaphosa violated his oath in any way, saying he was not guilty of any of the allegations made against him.
The panel was formed after the ATM submitted a motion of no confidence against Ramaphosa after former spy boss Arthur Fraser lodged a criminal complaint against the president and former head of the Presidential Protection Unit, Wally Rhoode, for allegedly kidnapping and torturing five men and a woman to reveal where they had hidden millions in foreign currency stolen from the president’s farm two years.
According to Fraser’s affidavit, Ramaphosa had at least $4 million in cash stashed in a couch on the game farm and played a part in covering it up, following an alleged illegal investigation.
Ramaphosa only confirmed the theft after Fraser came forward with the information in June this year. No case was opened with the police. He claimed to have informed Rhoode of the incident.
Neither the Hawks, Sars, Reserve Bank or the office of the public protector have concluded their investigations into the matter.
EFF spokesperson Sinawo Tambo said the party expected that Ramaphosa would have a case to answer for with regard to the “crimes he committed” at the Phala Phala farm.
Tambo vowed that if that was the case Ramaphosa would ultimately be impeached as he would have broken his oath of office.
“The EFF will explore all legal and legislative means to ensure that Ramaphosa is held accountable for his criminality should an illogical and irrational finding be made that he has no case to answer to,” Tambo said
He said Ramaphosa needed to be held accountable for laundering money, abduction, concealment of crime and misuse of state resources.
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said irrespective of what the panel decided, the Phala Phala matter was not going to go away.
“Ethically he should have told us from day one what happened at the farm. Whether he declared the money to Sars (SA Revenue Service) or the Reserve Bank,” Holomisa said.
He said while they could not predict the outcome of the panel report, this would not be the last word on the matter.
“Legally, there might be technicalities but ethically is where this case is now and this is precisely where Ramaphosa has failed the test. This is a leader who has taken the oath of office and people are not interested in legalistic jargon,but judge you on the serious allegations.”
Holomisa said Ramaphosa had looked for excuses and had been found vacillating on whether he had declared the foreign currency to SARS.
IFP chief whip Narend Singh said: “We expect that the panel will find against the president and recommend that Parliament must now conduct an investigation.”
ACDP leader Reverend Kenneth Meshoe said from a layman’s point of view, prima facie evidence of wrongdoing had been heard.
“We expect the panel to find that there is prima facie evidence and the president has a case to answer. There are rumours and allegations but we want to know if this large amount of foreign currency was declared to the revenue service,” said Meshoe.
But DA leader John Steenhuisen said it would be a miracle if the panel found Ramaphosa had a case to answer.
He said they would push for an ad hoc committee on Phala Phala should the independent panel probing the matter find that Ramaphosa has no case to answer.
Political analyst Bheki Mngomezulu said: “Even if the panel says that Section 89 should be invoked, this does not mean that the President will be ousted tomorrow.
Two thirds majority is not easy to get. Surviving impeachment will not mean that the president did not do anything wrong on the Phala Phala matter.”
Cape Times