THE South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has cleared President Cyril Ramaphosa of any wrongdoing linked to the Phala Phala scandal.
Governor Lesetja Kganyago on Monday, 21 August, released the outcomes of an investigation which found that Ramaphosa did not contravene the Exchange Control Regulations.
The investigation was conducted after former spy boss Arthur Fraser dropped a bombshell in 2022 by revealing that $580 000 was stolen from the president’s farm in 2020.
The money was gained from the sale of buffalo and stored in a couch on the farm.
The SARB did find that Ramaphosa's Ntaba Nyoni Estate, which owns the Phala Phala game farm, was not "legally entitled" to the $580 000 it received from Sudanese businessman Hazim Mustafa for the sale of 20 buffalos.
But Ramaphosa escaped accountability because the transaction was not "perfected".
This means Mustafa never received delivery of the buffalos and therefore there was no legal obligation on Ramaphosa or Ntaba Nyoni to have declared the foreign currency under exchange control regulations.
ALSO READ: Karabo is the answer to your VASKOM blues!
“On the facts available to it, the SARB finds that there was no perfected transaction and thus the SARB cannot conclude that there was any contravention of the Exchange Control Regulations (the applicable Regulation is Regulation 6(1)) by Ntaba Nyoni Estates CC (the entity involved) or for that matter by the president.
“That is because the SARB has concluded that the transaction in question was subject to conditions precedent which were not fulfilled, and therefore there was no legal entitlement, within the meaning of Regulation (6)(1), on the part of Ntaba Nyoni Estates CC, to the foreign currency,” said Kganyago.
SARB’s report comes two months after acting Public Protector Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka cleared Ramaphosa over the theft.
Gcaleka found he did not violate the executive members ethics code, and that by telling his head of security about the burglary it meant he had reported the matter, as was required.
Kganyago said because of legislative requirements and constraints which apply to the SARB, the report by the reserve bank into the matter is a private internal report and will not be made available to the public.
