Mashudu Sadike and Ntombi Nkosi
Pretoria - President Cyril Ramaphosa’s adviser, close ally and ANC treasurer-general hopeful Bejani Chauke has again been linked to the Phala Phala scandal. EFF president Julius Malema has accused him of having moderated the transport of millions of undeclared foreign currency from Joburg to the president’s farm in Limpopo.
Malema also accused Ramaphosa of lying and raised concerns regarding reports of two of the alleged participants in the US dollar theft scandal having been killed.
The EFF boss was addressing the media last week after the Section 89 independent panel chaired by retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo found Ramaphosa may have committed serious violations of the Constitution by “acting in a manner inconsistent with his office”, exposing himself to a situation involving a conflict between his official responsibilities and his private business, as well as violating sections of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (Precca) involving the foreign currency that was held at his property in Limpopo in 2020.
This is in relation to the theft that took place at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm where millions of dollars were stolen from the property, raising questions as to why the president had failed to bank or declare the money to the South African Reserve Bank and SARS. The money is said to have been hidden in a sofa at the game farm in Waterburg. Malema said the president lied when he allegedly said most of the workers on the farm knew the combination to the safe, which prompted him to put the money in the sofa.
“The money arrived in the sofa. It was not put there. “The more he (Ramaphosa) speaks the more exposed he becomes because he lied,” Malema said. “He is lying, he keeps on lying and lying. We have been taken for a ride here. He thinks we are all fools like him. If he has managed to fool ANC people he can’t fool all of us.
“There is a man called Bejani (Chauke), he is the one who brought the money in a sofa. You will hear stories if those guys (domestic workers) are questioned in Parliament. I don’t think Cyril wants that day. I don’t think the ANC wants that day.
“How can domestic workers have access to the safe? How do they know that the money must be moved from the safe to the couch? “There was no money in the safe. The money was taken from Joburg in a couch driven especially to the farm,” he said.
Malema raised concerns that two of the participants in the Phala Phala theft had reportedly been killed, allegedly to silence them.
However, there is no official confirmation from the police. In June this year, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) confirmed that Imanuwela David, the man alleged to be the mastermind behind the theft at Ramaphosa’s farm, was never employed to guard the country’s borders. According to a report from an online publication, David was shot and killed in Joburg. Another individual reported to be dead is currently unknown.
“Please note that there is no record of Imanuwela David ever having been a member of the SANDF. “Any reports linking him with the SANDF are rejected,” said Defence Minister Thandi Modise’s spokesperson, Cornelius Monama.
David’s name and employment were mentioned in former Namibian police commissioner Nelius Becker’s report – following a break-in, allegedly by a gang of Namibian nationals, and a South African working with the president’s domestic worker.
Gauteng SAPS spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo was approached for a comment. His mobile phone was off, however. Malema continued: “Two of the people who were involved in that crime were killed by the way. We just hope that the domestic worker will not be killed. Two are down already.”
Malema called for Parliament’s impeachment process against Ramaphosa to be activated.“The impeachment process is going to expose your favourite (Ramaphosa) that he is a liar and the police commissioner is going to expose him because that chief bodyguard of his is already singing, so it’s a waste of time.
“We want that impeachment process so that we can be vindicated because the majority of you say we are just attacking the president,” he said.
The call comes after the ANC national executive committee instructed all party MPs to vote against the establishment of the impeachment committee.
Pretoria News