Africa-Press – South-Africa. After months of political pressure, the Office of the Public Protector is still in the final stages of the Phala Phala investigation.
In response to News24 on Thursday as to when the report would be made public, the office said it could not disclose the date when the interim report would be released.
The acting spokesperson in the office, Ndili Msoki, told News24 they were in the “process of finalising an interim report”.
“As the PPSA, we commit to bringing finality to the matter timeously,” said Msoki.
In January, responding to the leader of the African Transformation Movement (ATM), Vuyolwethu Zungula, the Public Protector said the interim report was complete, and a quality assurance process still had to be done before the final report could be distributed.
On 2 March, Zungula wrote to the office to follow up on the release of the report.
In response to Zungula on 7 March, which News24 has seen, the acting executive manager of the office’s investigations branch, Vusumuzi Dlamini, told Zungula the interim report was being finalised.
Dlamini said: “In this delicate and almost untenable position, I regret that I cannot share the details, save to assure you [ATM] that as a party to the investigation, you will receive further communication in due course.”
He said he was “mindful of the great degree of interest from all spheres that the investigation has generated”.
He, however, added that the office had to uphold a balance of integrity, transparency and confidence in the investigation, so as not to jeopardise the PPSA’s performance.
The ATM had approached the Public Protector last year to investigate the Phala Phala saga after it was revealed that dollars were stolen at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s farm in Limpopo.
Meanwhile, Msoki told News24 that the affidavit from DA leader John Steenhuisen had been received, and that “this aspect has already been considered in our investigation and will be captured in our report”.
The DA wrote to Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka to ask that she probe deeper into the Phala Phala scandal after SARS responded to Steenhuisen’s Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) request.
SARS found there was no knowledge or evidence that Sudanese businessperson Hazim Mustafa brought in the $580 000 in cash via OR Tambo Airport to pay to Ramaphosa’s farm.
Following this revelation, SARS commissioner Edward Kieswetter announced that Ramaphosa and his companies, Ntaba Nyoni Estate and Ntaba Nyoni Feedlot, were tax compliant.
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