National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has turned down a request by the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and the African Transformation Movement (ATM) to take action against President Cyril Ramaphosa over the Phala Phala farm matter.
The UDM has requested that Parliament undertake an investigation while the ATM has called for the establishment of a process to remove the President.
Former head of the State Security Agency, Arthur Fraser, on June 01 laid a criminal complaint against Ramaphosa claiming there was a theft of $4 million from the President’s Limpopo farm and that the matter was not reported to the police.
Ramaphosa has, however, denied any wrongdoing.
The Speaker says the requests were not accompanied by substantive motions as required by the rules of the Assembly.
The news broke more than a week ago that a substantial amount of money, said to be around R64 million, had been stolen from President Ramaphosa’s farm.
Fraser alleges that the President concealed the theft and bribed the culprits to keep quiet.
The incident allegedly happened in 2020.
Political parties have criticised Ramaphosa for not coming clean.
Last week, UDM leader Bantu Holomisa requested that Ramaphosa be placed on a sabbatical.
The ATM has also asked the Public Protector to investigate the matter.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) interrupted the President’s budget vote debate last week following the allegations.
The video below, is the full interview with ATM leader Vuyolwethu Zungula:
Ramaphosa urged to explain what happened
Civil society organisations have added their voice, urging the President to tell his side of the story and not wait for investigations into the 2020 robbery on his Limpopo farm to unfold.
Outa Head of Legal Affairs, Stephanie Fick says she’s is not convinced that the claims made by the former Director-General of the State Security Agency Arthur Fraser will stick.
“If you just consider the facts of the matter, what civil society is doing is waiting for proper facts to come to the fore. I mean to accuse the sitting President of money laundering because he apparently has money stashed in furniture, there is photos of somethings , the weirdest thing about this is that , there so much hear say. It really smacks in the face of his concrete evidence.”
Pray for the truth
General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches, Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana has also reacted, asking South Africans to pray for the truth to be revealed in this matter.
“We were disturbed a bit by the allegations that were published relating to the theft of money from the President’s farm and the alleged aftermath thereof. We urge proper and independent investigations with transparency attending to all the matters at hand, for all truth to surface as Jesus Christ says you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”
