THE IPID REPORT INTO THE PHALA PHALA SCANDAL AND THE SYSTEMATIC COVER-UP OF PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA
BY : CHANON LECODEY MERRICKS ONLINE EDITOR KASiBC_AFRiCA
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) notes the report released by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) on the Phala Phala farm scandal where millions of stuffed Rands were stolen from the President’s home, and we state without hesitation that its findings confirm a coordinated abuse of state power to conceal criminal conduct linked to Cyril Ramaphosa.
The IPID report highlights a disturbing pattern of illegality, misconduct, and institutional decay within the Presidential Protection Unit (PPU) and sections of the South African Police Service. It confirms that senior SAPS officials, including Major General Wally Rhoode and Constable Hlulani Rekhoto, were informed of the theft of foreign currency of $580 000 from the President’s private farm but deliberately failed to register a criminal case or report the matter in accordance with the law.
Instead of complying with the legal prescripts of the SAPS Act and the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, these officials embarked on an unlawful investigation. The report finds that this included the concealment of the crime, the use of state resources to pursue suspects, and the abuse of police authority to protect the private financial interests of the President.
The report further details how SAPS members conducted unlawful apprehensions of suspects and witnesses, interrogated suspects outside of legal procedures, and engaged in acts amounting to kidnapping. It reveals that suspects were tracked, detained, and questioned without any registered case docket, in complete violation of constitutional and policing protocols.
More concerning is the finding that there was unlawful handling of the stolen money, including allegations of bribery aimed at silencing suspects and concealing the events that took place on 9 February 2020. The report also highlights unlawful cross-border activities, including engagements with suspects and law enforcement in Namibia, raising serious questions about the extent of the cover-up and the misuse of state machinery beyond South Africa’s borders.
The IPID investigation exposes how official state resources were repurposed for a private matter. Police personnel were deployed under false pretences, travel arrangements were misrepresented, and public funds were used to conduct what was effectively a private recovery operation for the President’s undeclared foreign currency. This constitutes fruitless and wasteful expenditure and a gross violation of public trust.
Both Major General Rhoode and Constable Rekhoto were, according to the report, recommended for disciplinary action in the face of these investigations, however acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia last year stated that Rhoode was subjected to an internal disciplinary process regarding this matter and was found not guilty. This is a glaring contradiction coming from Ramaphosa’s own Minister.
It is now clear, when this report is read together with the findings of the Section 89 Panel Report, that President Cyril Ramaphosa has a clear case to answer for. The convergence of these findings demonstrates a consistent pattern of concealment, abuse of power, and evasion of accountability at the highest level of the state.
The EFF is additionally concerned by the delays surrounding the release of the IPID report, as well as the continued delay in the EFF Constitutional Court case on Section 89 report, which seeks to reinstate the Section 89 process in Parliament. These delays point to a deliberate attempt to shield President Ramaphosa from accountability and to suppress processes that would expose the full extent of wrongdoing.
This pattern of institutional protection is not new. It mirrors the conduct of key state institutions such as the South African Revenue Service, the South African Reserve Bank, and the Office of the Public Protector South Africa, all of which have, in relation to Phala Phala, acted in a manner that raises serious concerns about their independence and willingness to hold the President accountable.
Moreover, the conduct exposed in this report bears a striking resemblance to the revelations emerging from the Madlanga Commission and the Ad Hoc Committee on the criminal infiltration of Police and Intelligence services. These processes have pointed to a dangerous trend of political interference, parallel power structures, and the erosion of lawful governance within South Africa’s security apparatus.
This combination of evidence is deeply worrying. It reveals a state that is increasingly manipulated to serve the interests of a political elite, rather than the people of South Africa. It confirms that the President is not only politically compromised but is at the centre of a network of actions that undermine the rule of law.
We therefore demand the immediate institution of criminal proceedings against all SAPS members implicated in the unlawful activities outlined in the report, and a full, transparent criminal investigation into the role of President Cyril Ramaphosa in the concealment of the crime and the subsequent abuse of state resources.
The findings of IPID, read together with other processes, make it increasingly clear that this is a matter that demands criminal accountability. As we have consistently stated President Cyril Ramaphosa has a case to answer, and that the trajectory of these revelations points to a leader that has no place in public office, but must face the full might of the law.
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