{"id":6228,"date":"2026-05-26T06:24:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T06:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/home\/south-africa-ramaphosa-challenges-cash-theft-report"},"modified":"2026-05-30T10:30:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T10:30:53","slug":"south-africa-ramaphosa-challenges-cash-theft-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/south-africa-ramaphosa-challenges-cash-theft-report","title":{"rendered":"South Africa: Ramaphosa Challenges \u201cCash Theft\u201d Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press. <\/strong> <\/span>The President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, has filed an official request with the High Court to review and overturn the report from the independent committee regarding the &#8220;Phala Phala&#8221; case, which involves the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars hidden inside furniture at his private farm. This legal move comes after the possibility of parliamentary accountability and his removal from office resurfaced.<\/p>\n<p>Reports indicate that Ramaphosa has formally submitted his request to review the independent committee&#8217;s report on the case.<\/p>\n<p>According to court documents cited by a local source, the South African president is contesting the findings of the report issued in 2022, arguing that they were based on &#8220;hearsay evidence&#8221; and that the committee misinterpreted the scope of its legal mandate.<\/p>\n<p>The case dates back to a theft incident that occurred in 2020 at Ramaphosa&#8217;s &#8220;Phala Phala&#8221; farm, where cash in dollars was stolen from a sofa.<\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa stated that the stolen amount was $580,000 and represented proceeds from the sale of buffaloes. The incident, since its revelation in 2022, has raised questions about the source of the funds, how they were kept, and whether they were declared according to the financial regulations in the country.<\/p>\n<p>The case has gained renewed attention on May 8, following a ruling by the Constitutional Court that the parliamentary vote in 2022 was unconstitutional and invalid, ordering the independent committee&#8217;s report to be referred to the impeachment committee in the National Assembly for review. The court clarified that the parliamentary investigation would proceed unless the report was overturned through judicial review, which is the basis for Ramaphosa&#8217;s current action in court.<\/p>\n<p>This legal challenge comes at a politically sensitive moment for Ramaphosa and the African National Congress. The president came to power in 2018 with a pledge to combat corruption and restore the party&#8217;s image, but the &#8220;Phala Phala&#8221; case, also known in the media as &#8220;Farmgate,&#8221; has become one of the prominent issues shadowing his presidency.<\/p>\n<p>The challenge could also impact the timing and pace of parliamentary accountability proceedings, as the impeachment committee will consider a report that is itself subject to judicial review. The African National Congress has reaffirmed its support for Ramaphosa this month, despite losing its parliamentary majority in the 2024 elections and retaining about 40% of the National Assembly seats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Africa<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press. The President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, has filed an official request with the High Court to review and overturn the report from the independent committee regarding the &#8220;Phala Phala&#8221; case, which involves the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars hidden inside furniture at his private farm. This legal move comes after the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":6227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[120],"class_list":{"0":"post-6228","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-policy","8":"tag-africa"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>South Africa: Ramaphosa Challenges \u201cCash Theft\u201d Report - Africa Press English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press. 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