Africa-Press – South-Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s so-called delaying tactics, evasiveness and public relations stunts will not save him from inevitable removal from office.
So says the EFF, which has been leading the attack against Ramaphosa’s evasiveness on the Phala Phala matter.
On Tuesday, chaos erupted when Ramaphosa failed to give a substantive answer to a question on the 2020 robbery at his Phala Phala farm in Limpopo.
While Ramaphosa, in essence, refused to answer any questions on the matter, citing legal advice, he was humiliated when opposition parties were given free rein to lash out at him over his reluctance to respond.
On Wednesday, News24 reported that Ramaphosa did not report to the SA Reserve Bank the foreign exchange transaction that was the source of the US dollars that were stolen from the farm.
Reserve Bank gives Ramaphosa until next week to provide Phala Phala details
The Presidency released a statement the same day in which it expressed concern after “claims made in the National Assembly” that Ramaphosa refused to answer a question on the Phala Phala saga.
“On a proper reading of the question, President Ramaphosa did, in fact, answer the question,” his spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, alleged.
“The president responded that he stands ready to take the nation into his confidence and that he would do so through the due legal and parliamentary processes.”
But the red berets are not buying Ramaphosa’s excuses.
In a statement of its own, it said: “We will continue to hold him and institutions that ought to interrogate his criminality, accountable and will ensure the reserve bank enforces his compliance with the deadline to give detail on the origin of his illicit money.
“We, once again, caution the SARB, the Financial Intelligence Centre, SARS and SAPS against efforts of trying to cover up the now evident violations of so many laws in South Africa. We as the EFF will vigorously and relentlessly ensure that everyone who is involved in the cover-up mission is held accountable, arrested and jailed for a very long time.”
In a letter to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance on Tuesday, SA Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago said its Financial Surveillance Department had written to Ramaphosa’s legal advisors on 20 June to request “information and details regarding the origin of the foreign currency and any underlying transaction that may pertain to it”.
The bank had initially given Ramaphosa 21 business days to respond to the letter but later gave him an extension of 15 working days.
Kganyago’s letter to the committee follows letters written to it by two of the committee members – EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu and DA MP Dion George.
The SARB administers SA’s exchange control regulations and investigates contraventions.
Under the regulations, all foreign currency transactions must be reported to the bank within 30 days.
Kganyago’s letter requesting information confirms that Ramaphosa did not report the transaction as required by law.
The EFF said “the cowardly Ramaphosa remains evasive, and now has a deadline of 8 September 2022 to give substantive detail to the direct questions asked by the reserve bank”.
It pointed out that delaying tactics, evasiveness and public relations stunts would not save Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa previously said that the cash stolen from his Phala Phala farm was the proceeds of the sale of animals.
ANC MPs shield Ramaphosa over Phala Phala during heated Parliament Q&A
The theft first came to light in June when former spy boss Arthur Fraser declared in an affidavit filed with the police that at least $4 million concealed in furniture had been stolen from the farm.
Ramaphosa said the amount was nowhere near as large but has not provided any information on the sum.
News24 recently reported that burglars stole an estimated $600 000 in cash from Ramaphosa’s farmhouse – far less than the millions of dollars initially speculated to have been taken.
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