SARB: Ramaphosa 'under no legal obligation' to declare Phala Phala dollars
A year-long investigation by the South African Reserve Bank has found that President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Ntaba Nyoni Estate were under no legal obligation to declare the foreign currency at the Phala Phala farm.
The SARB released a statement on Monday following the completion of its final report into the theft of millions worth of foreign currency from the president’s private farm in 2020.
Ntaba Nyoni Estate owns the Phala Phala game farm.
The investigation was prompted by complaints from African Transformation Movement president Vuyo Zungula, and Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen, following claims by former spy boss Arthur Fraser that the president attempted to cover up the theft of millions of dollars from his Phala Phala farm in February 2020.
In the statement, the Reserve Bank said neither the president nor Ntaba Nyoni was legally entitled to the $580 000 it received from Sudanese businessman Hazim Mustafa for 20 buffalo, as the transaction was never “perfected”.
"On the facts available to it, the SARB finds that there was no perfected transaction and thus, the SARB cannot conclude that there was any contravention of the Exchange Control Regulations (the applicable Regulation is Regulation 6(1)) by Ntaba Nyoni Estates CC (the entity involved) or for that matter by the President.
“That is because the SARB has concluded that the transaction in question was subject to conditions precedent which were not fulfilled, and therefore there was no legal entitlement, within the meaning of Regulation (6)(1), on the part of Ntaba Nyoni Estates CC, to the foreign currency.
“The governor will provide feedback within the applicable legal constraints to Parliament during the SARB’s upcoming engagement with Parliament," the central bank said.
The SARB was only entitled to investigate potential exchange control violations.
In June, Acting Public Protector Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka also cleared Ramaphosa of any wrongdoing in her final report.
She said the evidence at her disposal indicated that Ramaphosa had declared his interest in the closed company. She also stated that he received no remuneration other than as a member of the executive at the time of the alleged crime.
Ramaphosa has held that he had been advised that there was no conflict of interest between his official responsibilities and the interests he kept at the closed companies operating Phala Phala farm.
The African Transformation Movement has since filed an application in the High Court in Pretoria to challenge the public protector's report.
The EFF and DA also vowed to challenge the report.
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