Dear Editor
Yesterday, the Namibian police confirmed in a statement that they met SAPS officials on 19 June 2020 at what they termed “no man’s land” near Noordoewer on the Namibian / South African border. They met “to share operational information pertaining to Mr David Imanuwela and other Namibian nationals suspected to have stolen money in South Africa and fled to Namibia”.
This statement by the Inspector-General of the Namibian Police Force constitutes hard evidence that President Ramaphosa used state resources, specifically the Presidential Protection Unit located in SAPS’ VIP Protection Unit, to investigate his private business matter of the theft of millions of dollars from his Phala Phala farm.
Effectively, while he had the nation locked down in June 2020 with millions of citizens unable to earn a living, he was using their money to pursue the thieves who stole his four million dollars in cash. He needs to end his silence on this matter and explain this egregious abuse of power to the nation.
Worse still, this four million dollars stolen from his farm appears to be dirty money, ill-gotten. This would explain why he failed to report the theft and open a case with SAPS, as he was legally required to do. Yesterday’s press statement by the Namibian Police Inspector General confirms this failure. According to the statement:
“The Namibian Police Force identified individuals, bank accounts and various properties including lodges, houses and vehicles suspected to have been purchased with proceeds of crime; and consulted the Office of the Prosecutor General to consider a preservation order of the assets.
A preservation order was issued and a formal request was made through the Ministry of Justice to South Africa to confirm whether or not a crime was registered in South Africa. However, no response was received from South African authorities, resulting in the cancellation of the preservation order and release of assets.”
Clearly, President Ramaphosa has something to hide. He needs to stop hiding behind the false cover of a “pending investigation” and explain to the nation why he failed to report this massive theft and why he used state resources to try retrieve his dirty dollars.
I have submitted Questions to the President on this issue, through standard parliamentary channels.
President Ramaphosa is not just dragging his own name through the mud. This scandal is incredibly damaging to South Africa’s image abroad. In his Youth Day speech yesterday, he spoke of how many companies want to invest in South Africa.
Well, this Phala Phala issue is a big red flag to investors as is state capture, an issue which will not go away until President Ramaphosa releases the final Zondo report. It seems likely he is withholding it because, as the Chairperson of the ANC’s Cadre Deployment Committee at the time, he had a direct hand in appointing individuals who captured the state.
Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala scandal is damaging the South African economy and our prospects for creating jobs for the unemployed youth he professes to care about. His Presidency has been characterised as one of consistently putting party before country. Now he’s gone one step worse and put personal interests before country interests.
South Africa should not protect President Ramaphosa out of a fear of even worse ANC leaders waiting in the wings. The ANC is dying anyway. South Africa will be better off without it. We need to protect the timeless democratic principles of accountability, transparency and equality before the law, principles we cannot do without.
Regards
John Steenhuisen MP
Leader of the Democratic Alliance
