PHALA PHALA REPORT
The Fight Is On: Ramaphosa intends to challenge the Ngcobo Panel Report
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s consultations with supporters and stakeholders have led to a decision to challenge the scathing Section 89 Independent Panel report.
This story has been updated.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya has confirmed to Daily Maverick that President Cyril Ramaphosa is leaning towards challenging the findings of Section 89 Independent Panel.
“The president is seriously considering taking the Setion 89 panel report for review. It may be in the long-term interest and sustainability of our constitutional democracy, well beyond the Ramaphosa Presidency that such a clearly flawed report is challenged, especially when it’s being used as a point of reference to remove a sitting Head of State,” Magwenya said.
Magwenya’s confirmation comes after a National Executive Committee (NEC) source told Daily Maverick that Ramaphosa was surrounded by his close allies when he made the decision not to take the outcomes of the Section 89 Independent Panel lying down. The likes of NEC member Derek Hannekom and party head of elections Fikile Mbalula were said to be by his side when he made the final call.
The president’s circle has been against him resigning despite the seriousness of the allegations which have been levelled against him.
A flawed report and dangerous precedents – why President Cyril Ramaphosa should not resign
If Ramaphosa were to step down, many of his allies who have been part of his executive, including Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and Minerals and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, would also lose.
ANC NEC member and Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu is one of the senior ANC members who told Daily Maverick that Ramaphosa should rather allow processes to play out and avoid acting with haste.
In an interview on Thursday, Mchunu said: “President Cyril Ramaphosa should be given space to apply himself. What emerges from here will determine what he says to the NEC and nation.”
Ramaphosa’s decision comes amid a failed ANC NEC meeting which was supposed to take place on Friday afternoon. While the members gathered at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Soweto, the president was at home, according to Magwenya.
In addition to this, the organisation’s treasurer general Paul Mashatile said the meeting was called without an official report from the top 6 officials and National Working Committee (NWC), which is procedurally incorrect.
Magwenya dismissed perceptions that the president had snubbed the NEC, saying Ramaphosa had told Mashatile that he would not be present.
“The president was in Joburg yesterday. He flew back from Cape Town on Thursday evening. Before the start of the meeting, he spoke to Mashatile and they agreed that since he was going to be the subject of discussion at the special NEC, it is best that he does not attend,” Magwenya said.
This is despite reports that state that NEC members were caught off guard about Ramaphosa being absent at the meeting.
The ANC issued a statement this morning, saying that they would now be holding their Special NEC meeting on Sunday 4th December.
Summoned and frustrated: ANC NEC’s meeting cut short after Ramaphosa’s no-show
Ramaphosa has been under fire since the outcomes of the Section 89 Independent Panel were leaked to the public. Calls for him to resign come as the panel led by retired Judge Sandile Ncgobo found that there is prima facie evidence that he may have violated the Constitution and may have abused his powers.
The panel said he has a case to answer. This could pave the way for his possible impeachment, a charge which has been led by some opposition parties in Parliament.
The report particularly pointed out that Ramaphosa could be guilty of breaching the laws under the Preventing and Combating Corrupt Activities Act 12 of 2004, which places an obligation on persons in positions of authority who know or ought reasonably to have known or suspected that any other person has committed an offence (including the offence of theft involving an amount of R100,000 or more), to report such knowledge or suspicion.
The panel states that Ramaphosa was supposed to report the Phala Phala burglary and that there is a suggestion that he deliberately intended not to investigate the commission of the crimes committed at the farm. DM
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Good! Buffalo circle back at the hunter…
The buffalo buyer is far from being a mystery. He is all over social media, married to a South African and living in Dubai.
The money in question was never actually the president’s or the farm’s and still belongs to Hazim Mustafa. Stay with me:
1. The buffalo are still on the farm. Exporting 20 buffalo to Dubai and caring for them in Dubai is not a minor tasks. The buffalo are potentially not “sold” in legal terms.
2. There is no question of VAT as the buffalo are for export.
3. There is no question of Income Tax as the buffalo have possibly not been sold. Who owns the calves they may have produced since 2020?
4. There is no issue of SARB because the money is Hazim Mustafa’s property and he can answer to that.
The couch is difficult. Perhaps the farm staff were not too sure which of the police they could trust not to steal money from the safe.
As I have it Cyril declared the farm in his register of interests – his farming interests have never been hidden.
Reporting the theft to a SAPS general covers the alleged crime of not reporting a crime. The interrogation and hush money story needs to be tied to Cyril knowing to stick.
Perhaps somebody should prosecute Fraser for breaching the Secrets Act that binds SSA staff after resignation/dismissal, and for the fake video evidence. But that can wait till after Fraser is arrested for the billions he and his spies stole in the rogue unit.
The panel was loaded, it is becoming clear as more legal experts express their opinion that the report is also flawed. This is starting to look like a grad plan to get rid of Cyril. What is evident now is that the ANC will do anything, including destroying the ANC, to steal our money. Now we understand why load shedding is getting worse and not better.
Agree – the report is so badly written as to be incomprehensible and illogical in parts.
This is what WE expect from a leader with balls of steel, fight back for your leadership and the country. If indeed Cyril wanted to resign bcos of the findings of that panel then he is spineless, weak and not fit to run this country. Shosholoza Cyril.
Lawson Naidoo is a political thug rather than a legal person. He has an agenda that will be exposed in the future. The Panel findings cannot be stopped by an application for a review as Mpumelelo Zikalala said on ANN7. This is the same as the findings of the Public Protector that when they are taken on review a person reviewing the findings must interdict those who ought to implement its findings. The President has to interdict the parliament from discussing the report. It would be a sad for South Africa when that happens because we will never have clarity over Phala Phala. We have a Nkandla conundrum and the actors are the same from Mathole Motshekga to Mantashe and new faces in the form of Lamola. The former Chief Justice made an appropriate finding and carefully worded his findings despite the attacks from illiterate legal plumbers. This say that Daily Maverick must stop telling us about Stalingrad when it advocates it when it comes to Ramaphosa. We must as a country anchor our democracy on institutions and due process not individuals. Otherwise the Constitution is not worth the paper it is written on.
The President has signalled his intentions to go court, the opposition is meeting today to discuss the findings and map the way forward and the Daily Maverick is not interested to report on this. Its interest is to protect Ramaphosa not the country and peddle drivel from legal plumbers and Nkandla thugs like Mathole Motshekga.