Polokwane, South Africa- President Cyril Ramaphosa has rubbished claims that he is another corrupt official preying on taxpayers’ money.
The remarks by Ramaphosa follow criminal charges laid against him by former State Security Director-General, Arthur Fraser a couple of days ago.
According to Fraser, the charges emanate from a robbery of over US$4 million in February 2020 at the President’s Phala Phala farm in Waterberg in Limpopo adding that the President was involved in defeating the ends of justice, kidnapping suspects, interrogating and bribing them, and thereafter concealing the crime from the Police.
“From the (2020) theft of millions of US dollars (in excess of four million US dollars) concealed within the premises of the President’s Phala Phala farm in Waterberg, Limpopo, by criminals who were colluding with his domestic worker. They also include defeating the ends of justice, kidnapping of suspects, their interrogation on his property and bribery. The President concealed the crime from the SAPS (South African Police Service) and or SARS (South African Revenue Service) and thereafter paid the culprits for their silence,” said Fraser.
However, Ramaphosa has dismissed the claims that he is covering up the theft of millions of dollars off his Phala Phala farm branding them a political witch hunt.
“I want to re-affirm that I have not been involved in any criminal activity, all this money was from proceeds of selling animals, some of these things have a political agenda. My integrity as a leader will never allow me to steal money from taxpayers or any other people,” said Ramaphosa.
Prior to yesterday’s utterances by the President, Vincent Magwenya, the Presidential spokesperson had cited that the President did everything as is expected of any law-abiding citizen following the robbery.
“The Presidency can confirm that a robbery took place at the President’s farm in Limpopo on or around 9 February 2020 in which proceeds from the sale of the game were stolen. The President was attending an African Union Summit in Addis Ababa at the time the incident occurred. On being advised of the robbery, President Ramaphosa reported the incident to the head of the Presidential Protection Unit of the South African Police Service for investigation. President Ramaphosa stands ready to cooperate with any law enforcement investigation of these matters,” said Magwenya.
