Cape Town - After nearly three years, Sudanese businessman Mustafa Mohamed Ibrahim Hazim is yet to collect the buffaloes he paid cash for at Phala Phala.
While many discrepancies have come under the spotlight in the Section 89 report into the Phala Phala robbery, President Cyril Ramaphosa has maintained that the foreign currency stolen was from the sale and hunting of game on his wildlife farm.
Giving reasons for the foreign currency found at the residence, Ramaphosa submitted in an answering affidavit that Hazim came to the farm on December 25, 2019, where the cash transaction took place.
But more questions were raised with regard to the invoice for the sale.
“The President has furnished us with ‘an acknowledgement of receipt’, (annexure) MCR179, as proof of the source of the foreign currency that was stolen. While we accept that this document is what it purports to be, there are a number of difficulties with this document which stand in our way to accepting it as conclusive evidence of the sale ...
“First, other than the names of Messrs Hazim and Ndlovu, no further particulars of these individuals are provided such as their Passport or Identity Document numbers. Nor does MCR1 reflect the address of the buyer. Mr Hazim is said to be a Sudanese businessman. Yet no particulars are given of his business or the business he is involved in, the address where he conducts business from, or any particulars that will enable anyone wishing to identify him or establish his whereabouts,” the report read.
The purported invoice raised a number of further questions including that Phala Phala Wildlife was a registered VAT vendor.
“Whether Phala Phala Wildlife is a registered VAT vendor and was therefore required to comply with the provisions of the VAT Act, is a question that we cannot answer on the information presented to us.
“Nor can we say, having regard to the amount of the transaction, that Phala Phala Wildlife is not a registered VAT vendor.
Until these questions are answered serious doubt is cast on the alleged acknowledgement of receipt as proof of the sale,” the panel noted in the report.
“As pointed out earlier, in this regard, he relies on what he was told by Mr Ndlovu and on the acknowledgement of receipt, MCR177, that Mr Ndlovu gave him as proof of the sale of the buffaloes.
But as we noted previously, Mr Ndlovu has not made a statement, sworn, or unsworn, confirming the allegations made by the President.
“Furthermore, the buffaloes are still at the farm, more than two years after the sale.
“The President has not told us why Mr Ndlovu has not made any statement. Nor has he explained to us why the buffaloes are still at the farm.”
Cape Times