ActionSA says it has written to Public Protector Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka to ask for the Phala Phala investigation to be reopened. The party wants her office to examine whether officials linked to the Presidency misused state resources to help cover up the robbery at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s farm.
The request follows the release of a declassified report by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) into the alleged cover-up of the 2020 theft at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in Limpopo. According to IOL, the report deals with the theft of about $580,000, estimated at roughly R8 million at the time, which was allegedly hidden inside a sofa at the farm.
IPID report raises new pressure
IOL reported that ActionSA and the African Transformation Movement secured the release of the IPID report through a Promotion of Access to Information Act application after suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu had indicated last year that it would remain classified.
The IPID report recommends disciplinary action against Major General Wally Rhoode, head of the Presidential Protection Unit, and Constable HH Rekhoto, who is attached to the Presidential Protection Services Unit in Pretoria. They are accused of concealing the theft, using state resources for an unauthorised investigation, falsifying official documents and bringing SAPS into disrepute.
Beaumont points to Presidency officials
ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont said the Public Protector’s earlier report focused mainly on the President and members of the Presidential Protection Unit. But he argued that the newly unsealed IPID report shows the investigation should now be widened to include officials close to Ramaphosa.
Beaumont singled out Dr Bejani Chauke, the President’s envoy for Africa and a former special adviser to Ramaphosa. According to Beaumont, the IPID report says Chauke travelled to Namibia with members of the Presidential Protection Unit using SAPS VIP resources he was not authorised to use. Beaumont said the visit coincided with the arrest in Namibia of the chief suspect linked to the farm robbery.
Political fallout is far from over
Beaumont said those developments suggest the Phala Phala matter may reach deeper into the Presidency than previously examined. For ActionSA, the Public Protector must revisit the case. The renewed call means the political fallout from Phala Phala is still not over.