Former President Kgalema Motlanthe said President Cyril Ramaphosa “may be hiding something” through his delays in responding to the controversial robbery at his Phala Phala game farm in 2020.
Mothlanthe made the remarks during an interview with Newzroom Afrika’s politics editor Lukhanyo Calata.
Phala Phala
The former president said it “would not work for an explanation to be given and then for the offence to be swept under the carpet.”
“So the fact that Parliament is seized with this matter, the Hawks are investigating, Public Protectors office says that the truth shall out at some point or other.
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“The delay in getting to that point does communicate a message that he’s got a case to answer or he’s got something to hide. That’s the inference from the delay. So ideally, the clarification should have happened much, much, much earlier,” Motlanthe said.
Ramaphosa under pressure
Ramaphosa is facing mounting pressure to open up about an alleged cover-up of the robbery at Phala Phala.
In June, former State Security Agency boss – and well-known supporter of former president Jacob Zuma – Arthur Fraser dropped a bombshell when he filed criminal charges against Ramaphosa.
According to Fraser’s 48-page affidavit, a domestic worker in the president’s employ on his farm had discovered an undisclosed sum of US dollars concealed in the furniture on the Phala Phala premises.
Despite angry badgering from MPs earlier this month, Ramaphosa stuck to his guns in Parliament, once again refusing to answer specific questions related to the robbery.
Panel to probe Phala Phala
Earlier this month, the former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Sandile Ngcobo was appointed to lead an independent panel to consider whether Ramaphosa should face an impeachment inquiry.
Speaker of the National Assembly, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, announced that Ngcobo, former Judge of the Gauteng Division of the High Court Thokozile Masipa and Professor Richard Calland, Associate Professor of Public Law at the University of Cape Town, will consider the evidence related to an alleged cover-up of a robbery at Ramaphosa’s game farm.
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