The African Transformation Movement (ATM) has lambasted deputy Public Protector (PP) Kholeka Gcaleka for “protecting” President Cyril Ramaphosa and preventing him from being held accountable for the Phala Phala farm scandal.
This comes after Gcaleka sent letters to political parties who picketed outside her office a few days ago, demanding feedback on the PP’s probe into the Phala Phala matter.
Gcaleka told opposition parties that she needed a substantial amount of time to conclude investigations into the matter.
When the Phala Phala burglary was reported to the suspended PP, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, she had told the media that investigations into the matter would not take long. But her departure from office saw investigations being delayed and a veil of secrecy appearing around the matter, resulting in political parties picketing outside the PP’s offices in Pretoria.
ATM head of policy, Jimmy Manyi said Gcaleka’s behaviour in relation to the Phala Phala investigations was questionable. He questioned Gcaleka’s objectivity on the matter.
“We have this advocate Gcaleka who is violating the law; any complaints raised need to be dealt with within 30 days, that's what the law says. We are now on almost day 100 and advocate Gcaleka is busy jumping up around and not doing anything about this,” Manyi said.
Manyi accused Gcaleka of colluding with the president to make the Phala Phala matter “slide”.
“We see this as part of a cover-up because indeed even from the beginning she has been doing all kinds of cover- up. She had a secret deal to extend the return time for questions and after that the return date was not respected and she made some empty threats of a subpoena, which she did not follow through,” Manyi said.
Manyi said the Phala Phala matter was straightforward and prolonged investigations were not needed. He said the president should take the country into his confidence and explain how $4 million ended up under his mattress at the Limpopo farm.
“We now have more evidence that President Ramaphosa violated his oath of office and is not fit to be the president of the country. If you look at the fact that there is still no case number of a robbery that happened at his place. Mr Ramaphosa has engaged in activities that make him extra income,” Manyi said.
Several investigations were running concurrently to establish if the president had broken any laws and whether he was involved in money laundering concerning the storage of foreign currency at his farm.