Cape Town - Opposition parties are up in arms with the SA Reserve Bank’s (SARB) finding that President Cyril Ramaphosa was not “legally entitled” to have declared R11 million his Phala Phala game farm received from Sudanese businessman Hazim Mustafa.
The reserve bank said it finalised its investigation and report on August 14, and because the full report was “a private internal report”, that would not be made available to the public. However, the Phala Phala issue being a matter of significant public importance, could reveal certain pertinent details.
SARB’s finding hinges on the absence of a “perfected transaction”, which means the legal pre-requisites for the transaction to be completed were not met due to the non-delivery of a buffalo to Mustafa.
This led to SARB’s conclusion that there was no legal obligation under the exchange control regulations of 1961 to declare the foreign currency, effectively exonerating Ramaphosa of any technical wrongdoing, within the scope of its inquiry.
The investigation was launched on the back of allegations by former State Security Agency head Arthur Fraser, in June last year, and the subsequent receipt by SARB of complaints from various groups, including political parties.
DA parliamentary spokesperson on finance, Dion George, said SARB’s decision not to release the full “private internal” report raised questions about transparency and accountability.
“The suspicious circumstance of the money being stuffed into the president’s couch, and the possibility that cash was held beyond a legislated limit, seem to have been beyond the scope of the reserve bank’s investigation. The narrow focus of its investigation also raises concerns about its thoroughness and whether any political considerations arose,” he said.
George said the DA would pose more questions to Sarb when it appeared before the standing committee on finance on August 30, and would write to the governor to request more details and a copy of the report.
The EFF said the SARB report was a “pathetic and poor attempt to cleanse Ramaphosa”.
National spokesperson Sinawo Thambo said: “The SARB has unwittingly confirmed our suspicions that there was never a transaction or intention to have a legal transaction. Instead, the intention was to launder money through Phala Phala.”
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) UDM president and MP Bantu Holomisa accused SARB of fence-sitting.
“What is a perfected transaction? Who must account for the not perfected transaction?” he asked.
ActionSA president Herman Mashaba said the party would consult its legal representatives after the investigation which cleared Ramaphosa of any wrongdoing.
“ActionSA will continue to follow all possible avenues to ensure the president does not get away with his possible unlawful actions, and seek to ensure the SARB report is released publicly.”
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za