Opposition parties were united in condemning the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) findings on Monday after its year-long investigation into the Phala Phala matter, which exonerated President Cyril Ramaphosa of wrongdoing.
The Bank said it “cannot conclude” that Ntaba Nyoni Estates or Ramaphosa flouted foreign exchange control laws.
The probe came as a result of allegations made by former correctional services boss Arthur Fraser regarding the theft of at least $580,000 (R10.7m) of undeclared foreign currency from the president’s private game farm and complaints by numerous parties to the Bank.
The DA said the Bank has chosen not to release the full “private internal” report.
“This statement by the Reserve Bank raises questions about transparency and accountability.”
It said the SARB’s finding hinged on the absence of a “perfected transaction”, which meant the legal requirements for the transaction to be completed were not met.
Conditions for a perfected transaction were unfulfilled due to the non-delivery of buffalo to businessman Hazim Mustafa. This led to the bank’s conclusion that there was no legal obligation under the exchange control regulations to declare the foreign currency.
“However, the suspicious circumstance of the money being stuffed into the president’s couch, and the possibility that cash was held beyond a legislated limit, seem to have been beyond the scope of the investigation,” the DA said.
“The narrow focus of its investigation also raises concerns about its thoroughness and whether political considerations arose.”
The DA said it would not let the matter rest and will pose additional questions to the Reserve Bank when its officials appear before parliament’s standing committee on finance next week. It will write to the governor of the Reserve Bank to request further details and a copy of the report.
“South Africans need to know what happened at Phala Phala and that includes knowing whether the president broke financial laws he is entrusted to uphold,” the DA said.
The EFF also rejected the bank’s findings.
