Phala Phala most critical inquiry in SA’s history, says ATM
African Transformation Movement (ATM) President Vuyo Zungula says he is confident that an independent parliamentary panel investigating the robbery at President Cyril Ramaphosa's farm in 2020 will find sufficient evidence for Parliament to proceed with a Section 89 inquiry against the President.
Zungula was unpacking the Phala Phala parliamentary panel investigation at the Press Club of South Africa on Monday.
The panel is headed by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo and tasked with investigating whether there is prima facie evidence that Ramaphosa violated his oath of office during and following the robbery at his private Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo.
The Phala Phala saga first came to light in June after former spy boss Arthur Fraser opened a kidnapping and money laundering case against Ramaphosa, accusing him of attempting to conceal the 2020 robbery in which he alleged millions in foreign currency were stolen.
The president has since clarified that about $580 000 was stolen and says the money was the proceeds from the sale of game and that he reported the crime to the head of the police's VIP protection unit.
Zungula believes the independent panel will find sufficient evidence for the president to face impeachment.
He added that opposition parties will ensure that the panel is held accountable for its final report.
"What the MPs have in terms of holding the independent panel accountable, we have an opportunity to take the report for judicial review because those judges that seat there, they are not above the law, and they are not going to interpret the law in a way that suits them because the law in itself must not be blind, it shouldn't matter whose case is before them," says Zungula.
Zungula believes the impeachment process will expose corruption, abuse of power, and capture at all institutions meant to investigate the president.
"So, the issue of Phala Phala once it gets to that impeachment, it is going to lay bare all of the corruption, all of the abuse of power, all of the capture that is there from the judiciary, SARS, Reserve Bank, SIU, Hawks, all the institution will be investigated and interrogated. I believe that will be the most critical motion and inquiry in our country because it would be dealing with the real capture of people in the judiciary, in the executive and parliament," adds Zungula.
Zungula believes law enforcement officials find it difficult to investigate the President.
"When you ask the people in the NPA or Hawks about Phala Phala, they will say an investigation is there, but when you ask them specifically, Are you investigating the president? They will be very shy to answer that question. All of the people that are appointees of the president will always find it difficult to investigate or find anything wrong with the sitting president."
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