Africa-Press – South-Africa. Opposition parties are up in arms over a South African Revenue Service (SARS) finding that there is no record that Hazim Mustafa, the Sudanese businessman who paid $580 000 in cash to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm, declared the money he had brought into the country in December 2019.
Speaking to News24 on Monday morning, African Transformation Movement (ATM) leader Vuyolwethu Zungula said the revelation showed “that the tax on the money that went into Mr Ramaphosa’s coffers was not submitted or paid”.
“That is tax evasion, and tax evasion is stealing from the poor. We cannot have a president who steals from the poor because the amount of power that he has, which includes the appointing of Cabinet ministers, and judges, among others, means we need a president who is beyond reproach,” said Zungula.
He added that what was more concerning was that despite the revelation by an independent institution, the ANC would “use its majority in Parliament to block any investigation”.
“This clearly shows that the ANC is the enemy of the people. We are going to pursue the matter in Parliament because we cannot continue as if things are normal, as if the head of state has not been found wanting,” Zungula added.
The EFF also noted SARS’ response and said, “the revelations are damning in that it refutes the concocted lies of the Sudanese businessman, Hazim Mustafa, who claimed on local and international news platforms that he declared the money he had smuggled to Ramaphosa at OR Tambo International Airport”.
In a statement, the red berets said, “it is now an undeniable fact that at least 580 000 US dollars were brought into South Africa illegally, and were not declared to SARS or the South African Reserve Bank (SARB)”.
“It is further undeniable that the money which was supposedly for the purchase of buffalo on Phala Phala farm was laundered through a falsified transaction because the buffalo which were supposedly bought never left Phala Phala Farm,” their statement continued.
The party also maintained that:
The EFF took the opportunity to reiterate its call for Ramaphosa to resign immediately “for having failed dismally to lead South Africa and for being a certified constitutional delinquent”.
In response to the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) request DA leader John Steenhuisen filed in December 2022, SARS said it could not find any record that Mustafa declared the cash he had brought into the country.
Steenhuisen requested a copy of the declaration form after Mustafa produced a document he had shown journalists in an interview with Sky News, but would not hand over.
In its communiqué with Steenhuisen, SARS indicated it was satisfied that after it had taken reasonable steps to find the record, it could conclude that the record either did not exist or could not be found.
In terms of PAIA, SARS also attached an affidavit by the responsible official, in this case, legal specialist: corporate legal services Siyabonga Nkabinde, who searched for the records.
“On or around 17 January 2023, I commenced engagements with relevant various business units within SARS that I believed may be in the custody of and/or be in possession of and/or have knowledge of the record requested,” read Nkabinde’s affidavit.
“[I] was advised that pursuant to the search for the record in various SARS passenger processing systems, the record could not be found and/or may not be in existence,” the affidavit continued.
The Sudanese businessman claimed that the document he showed journalists during the television interview was a copy of the declaration he had completed upon landing at OR Tambo International Airport.
In a statement, the DA weighed in, saying “it now seems more likely than ever that [Ramaphosa had] possession of dirty dollars for corrupt, illicit, or criminal purposes”.
Ramaphosa has maintained that the accusations against him are “without any merit”.
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