Analysing the latest developments in the Phala Phala saga is not easy, mainly because our noisy body politic has suspended its ability to think rationally.
South Africa has been subjected to the conspiratorial excesses of former president Jacob Zuma and his allies for more than two decades. Their strategy of discrediting opponents is well known, though its workings are not always obvious.
There was the South African Revenue Service (Sars) “rogue unit”, which shocked the nation as it blazed across the front pages of the Sunday Times, only to be retracted years later. And the “Cato Manor death squads”; and then finance minister Pravin Gordhan “plotting” to overthrow Zuma, which was used to justify his axing; and fake intelligence reports from Ground Coverage to Project Spider Web and Project Wonder.
The players are well known — Arthur Fraser in particular. He, who was Thabo Mbeki’s erstwhile trusted lieutenant, handed spy tapes to Jacob Zuma, eventually paving the way for Mbeki’s removal as president and Zuma’s ascent to that office.
It seems Fraser has been trying to dethrone another Zuma opponent, President Cyril Ramaphosa, originally by bringing charges against him at the Rosebank police station in 2022 over the unbanked dollars in the president’s furniture.
Ramaphosa concedes there was currency in his couch. And he may well have further questions to answer. But given South Africa’s volatile political landscape, overrun with crooked cops, spooks and politicians, it is important to weigh the facts.
Ramaphosa’s own version is that the money was payment for the sale of 20 buffaloes to a Sudanese businessman, who submitted an affidavit confirming this.
Still, the intrigue around the unbanked, undisclosed millions hidden in the president’s couch continues as Fraser and Zuma’s spook-sponsored narrative.
It went as far as casting a shadow over the integrity of Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago, who oversaw a probe focused on whether exchange controls were violated. The Bank found they had not been. Some did not accept this finding, yet no-one approached the courts to review the Bank’s report.
Ramaphosa was also cleared by Sars, and again there has not been a legal challenge or even a request for information over the probe by the tax authority. There have been five investigations into the matter, including one by the Hawks, with the National Prosecuting Authority concluding that Ramaphosa did not have a case to answer.
Perhaps Ramaphosa’s review will finally prove what really happened at the Limpopo farm back in early 2020
The president announced this week that he is taking on review the only report that did make a finding against him, written by retired chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, chair of the parliamentary panel of inquiry.
Ngcobo’s report forms the basis of the pending impeachment process reignited by Friday’s Constitutional Court judgment on parliament’s 2022 vote, which halted the process emanating from the allegations.
Why wait this long?
One possible reason involves the makeup of the Western Cape High Court back in 2022. The Ngcobo report was released in November 2022. At the time, the judge president of the Western Cape was none other than John Hlophe, now deputy president of Zuma’s MK Party.
It is understood that this is the reason Ramaphosa first approached the Constitutional Court to review the Ngcobo report, instead of the high court. The apex court did not weigh the facts of the matter, dismissing the application on jurisdictional grounds. Hlophe, now impeached, is a long-standing Zuma ally — as is Ngcobo.
He was a Zuma favourite on the Constitutional Court bench. In 2011 Zuma tried to extend his term by five years, which Ngcobo agreed to at first. Later he withdrew his acceptance of the post when civil society groups pushed back, arguing that it was unconstitutional and undermined the separation of powers.
Ngcobo’s report (which rests uncomfortably heavily on Fraser’s version of events) is the only one of five reports from various state institutions to have found “prima facie evidence” of wrongdoing by Ramaphosa.
In 2023 the public protector also cleared Ramaphosa. The detailed report, by Kholeka Gcaleka, is publicly available. Key players were interviewed. She found that allegations against Ramaphosa, including that of violating the executive ethics code and abuse of power, were not substantiated.
Crucially, opposition parties trying to score mileage off Phala Phala seem to be ignoring the fact that Gcaleka found that Ramaphosa “was not actively involved in the farm’s daily operations or receiving direct remuneration, though he retained a financial interest” in the farm.
She made damning findings against Ramaphosa’s security personnel, who did not report the matter to the police and instead conducted their own investigation after the burglary.
Gcaleka’s report was a response to four complaints: two by members of the public, Elias Muller and Simphiwe Ndlovu, one by African Transformation Movement leader Vuyo Zungula and one by then DA leader John Steenhuisen.
Despite opposition parties having criticised Ramaphosa being cleared, none of them have sought to set these reports aside in court. Nor has Fraser, who incidentally gave a riveting interview to the Sunday World this week.
The ex-spook claims that after his high-profile move to press charges against Ramaphosa, he was offered more than R50m to “make the case go away”.
Fraser says he was approached by shady businessman Mark Lifman (since deceased), who offered him a bribe on Ramaphosa’s behalf. This is quite a revelation, given the long-standing links between Lifman and Zuma and his allies, such as former Western Cape ANC chair Marius Fransman.
South Africa has bought into Fraser’s psy-op for so long. He is now adding further spice to the medley of fiction, buttressed by a truthful simple plot, to darken the already murky narrative of a president laundering government money in his chesterfield.
Perhaps Ramaphosa’s review will finally prove what really happened at the Limpopo farm back in early 2020. From Fraser’s perspective, however, it seems the truth is not meant to emerge but is an inconvenient sideshow.
Marrian is a political analyst at the Bureau for Economic Research
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