Johannesburg - Police top brass, including Minister Bheki Cele, lied to Parliament when they reported that “no resources of the SAPS”, especially crime intelligence, were used in the Phala Phala farm cover-up and clandestine service investigation.
Responding to a question by EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, police in an official answer approved by Cele, national commissioner General Fannie Masemola, deputy national commissioner: policing General Tebello Mosikili, and acting divisional commissioner: crime intelligence General Philani Lushaba said: “No resources of the SAPS crime intelligence (human, physical and financial resources) were used concerning the theft at Phala Phala farm.”
Ndlozi had asked whether crime intelligence “was involved in any way in the investigation into the burglary at the Phala Phala farm”.
The police’s written response is dated August 29.
The police failed to acknowledge that two crime intelligence operatives, Captain Owen Mdluli and Warrant Officer Marius Pretorius, for surveillance, were dispatched from Pretoria to Cape Town with a state grabber that was used to ping and trace the alleged robbers to a house in Milnerton where four men, including the alleged robbery mastermind, Immanuwela David, were arrested in March 2020.
The Sunday Independent has seen some of the records of the state grabber that was used to ping the alleged suspects. Police raided the house, using a fictitious drug-dealing case, and broke down the ceiling in search of the robbers’ loot.
“A lot of money, in American dollars, was found in the house and the police car that was used to transport the money had to make two trips,” a source with intimate knowledge of the bogus raid said yesterday.
The Sunday Independent was shown a bag full of American dollars that were allegedly found at the house. Mdluli and Pretorius were forced to drive from Pretoria to Cape Town in a state vehicle which had the grabber mounted on it. Another police source claims that their accommodation, meals and per diem were paid from the crime intelligence secret fund.
“The men spent more than a week in Cape Town and they were paid from the crime intelligence secret fund. For the minister and the police top brass to lie to Parliament that no state resources were used in the Phala Phala clandestine investigation isn’t only a shame but pathetic,” said a general, who asked not to be named for fear of victimisation.
The Sunday Independent previously reported that a secret crime intelligence fund was used to finance the clandestine Phala Phala operations used to trace the thieves who stole millions of dollars from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in February 2020. We also confirmed that 16 members of the elite special task force were deployed to Ramaphosa’s farm in Bela-Bela, Limpopo, after the theft, at a staggering cost to the taxpayers of almost R2 million per month and that their budget also came from the crime intelligence secret fund.
The number of the special task force members was reduced from 16 to 8 after General Sam Setlhabane, the divisional commissioner for protection services, wrote a letter complaining that his department was spending money on something he knew nothing about, three months later. The members were stationed at Phala Phala farm for six months.
“Can you imagine the audacity of police top brass lying in the National Assembly and the nation without any shame,” said another general, who also asked not to be named.
“Wally Rhoode admitted in his response to the public protector’s office that he drove a state vehicle to Namibia where he met with his Namibian counterparts and yet we have people telling Parliament that no state resources were abused in the Phala Phala farm cover-up and clandestine investigation,” he added.
Ramaphosa confirmed that there was indeed a robbery at his farm and that an undisclosed amount of money, in American dollars, was stolen and that he tasked his head of security, General Wally Rhoode, to investigate the matter.
Ramaphosa admitted that he didn’t report the matter to the police, and Rhoode also didn’t report the robbery to the law enforcement agencies officially but acquired the services of crime intelligence in his clandestine investigation.
All the alleged suspects, Namibian nationals, who were allegedly involved in the robbery at Ramaphosa’s farm were pinged, traced and arrested after using a state grabber and an undisclosed amount of money was recovered. The men allegedly broke into the farm in February 2020 and stole a large amount of money that was concealed in the president’s furniture, including a mattress, allegedly with the help of a domestic worker who discovered the money while she was cleaning the farmhouse.
The robbery at Ramaphosa’s farm made international news headlines after former state security agency director-general Arthur Fraser went to the Rosebank police station in Johannesburg in June to open a case of kidnapping and torture against the president and Rhoode.
Fraser claims the men, including the domestic worker, were tortured to confess their sins and also hand over what was left of the money after they went on a shopping spree shortly after the robbery.
The men bought several cars, including a Mercedes-Benz station wagon and a Lamborghini, as well as a house in Rustenburg, North West province, a property in Cape Town and a guest house in Namibia.
Fraser, in his affidavit, claims there was about $4 million to $ 8 million at the farm when the robbery took place. The former spy boss also added that Rhoode “instructed” Ramaphosa to pay off the robbers, including the domestic worker, to the tune of R150 000 each for their silence.
African Transformation Movement (ATM) leader, Vuyolwethu Zungula, wrote to the Speaker of Parliament, Nosiviwe Maphisa-Nqakula, shortly after the Phala Phala scandal broke, asking her to initiate a Section 89 inquiry for the possible impeachment of Ramaphosa.
Parliament reported on Friday that various political parties had nominated 17 candidates to serve on a panel that will probe the Phala Phala farm allegations against the president.
Mapisa-Nqakula is set to ask three of them to determine whether enough evidence exists to initiate an impeachment inquiry. Ramaphosa is also facing an investigation by the public protector where Zungula also launched a complaint. The president must also answer questions from the the South African Reserve Bank as to the source of the US dollars that were stolen at his farm.
Ramaphosa was given until September 8 to provide information to the central bank.
Yesterday Cele's spokesperson, Lirhandzu Themba, failed to answer specific questions about how the minister was involved in lying to the Parliament.
“Please refer these operational questions to SAPS,” Themba said.
Sunday Independent can today also reveal that Rhoode was served with a notice to suspend him on Thursday for his role in the Phala Phala farm scandal.
“Rhoode is facing an expeditious process where he might not even be allowed to bring any witnesses but read his charges and possibly be discharged from the service,” a police source said.
The source added that Rhoode was accused of failing to report the robbery at the president’s farm to the police and also allegedly abusing state resources while investigating the matter.
“Rhoode is telling people that he isn’t going to go down alone or be made as a scapegoat for the Phala Phala scandal,” a close friend of Rhoode said.
Police spokesperson, Colonel Athlenda Mathe, yesterday failed to answer specific questions on Rhoode’s notice of suspension.
“The SAPS does not discuss its internal processes and matters in the public domain,” Mathe said.