ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has criticised the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) for failing to respond within the mandated 30-day deadline to the party’s application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) to gain access to the report on Phala Phala farm robbery matter.
However, the SARB on Thursday said that Paia application must follow the stipulated rules.
On August 14, the SARB found that no exchange control laws were violated in the reported “transaction” between President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm and a Sudanese businessman, Hazim Mustafa, for the purchase of 20 buffalo.
The investigation was launched following allegations by Arthur Fraser, on or about June 1, 2022, and the subsequent receipt by the SARB of complaints from various parties, including political parties.
The SARB said due to legislative requirements and constraints which apply to it, the report into this matter would be kept as a private internal report and would not be made available to the public except for a few aspects.
However, many political parties, including the African Transformation Movement (ATM), the EFF and the UDM objected to this with ActionSA bringing an application in terms of Paia to compel the SARB to grant it access to the report.
The ATM said it was convinced that Ramaphosa was being protected after the SARB’s report cleared him of wrongdoing.
On Thursday Mashaba accused the SARB of failing to comply with a 30-day deadline in terms of Paia.
“The South African Reserve Bank has failed to respond to ActionSA’s application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) within the legislatively mandated 30 days to gain access to the report into whether President Cyril Ramaphosa’s failure to disclose the foreign currency, which was stolen at his Phala Phala farm in 2020, was indeed unlawful,” Mashaba stated.
Mashaba said the party intended to file an internal appeal with the SARB in order to ensure that Ramaphosa is finally held accountable for having failed to disclose foreign currency after money was stolen from his Limpopo farm in February 2020.
SARB spokesperson Thoraya Pandy said: “All Paia requests must be directed to the email address privacy@resbank.co.za as published in the SARB PAIA Manual on the SARB website. Secondly, all Paia requests must meet the procedural guidelines prescribed in Paia in completing the relevant forms (Section 18) and payment of the Request fee (Section 22). This request was not submitted to the correct email address as required by the SARB PAIA Manual and the Request fee has not been paid. I can now confirm that we have received the completed prescribed form. The next process is that we will request ActionSA to pay the Request Fee, and once the fee has been received, we will then consider it in terms of the applicable legislation that guides these matters.”
Cape Times