President Cyril Ramaphosa fired back against former spy boss Arthur Fraser, who dropped a bombshell this week when he laid a criminal complaint against the head of state over allegations of money laundering, kidnapping and corruption.
Fraser alleges the president had “concealed” more than $4m on his Limpopo farm, Phala Phala, more than two years ago.
In a statement, Ramaphosa said “there is no basis for the claims of criminal conduct” reflected in a media release the day before by Fraser, who granted former president Jacob Zuma medical parole in his last weeks as correctional services commissioner, in a move the high court set aside as unlawful.
Fraser’s version of events was that criminals who were colluding with Ramaphosa’s domestic worker stole the money on February 9 2020. Ramaphosa, he alleges, hid the crime from the police and paid the culprits hush money.
Fraser said his claims are supported by video evidence, which he handed over to the SA Police Service (SAPS) at Rosebank police station.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, confirmed a robbery at the farm that day in February 2020. The “proceeds from the sale of game were stolen” while Ramaphosa was in Ethiopia for an AU summit.
“On being advised of the robbery [he] reported the incident to the head of the Presidential Protection Unit of the SAPS for investigation,” Magwenya said.
Fraser’s “unprecedented” step comes six months before the ANC’s national elective conference. Ramaphosa will be aiming for re-election as party president, and he is likely to be up against a candidate that flies the flag for Zuma’s vaguely defined radical economic transformation faction.
The charges of breaking laws against corruption and organised crime made national headlines. They worsen the ANC’s poor image, and raise questions about the former intelligence head’s motives.
“The politics dynamic in the ANC is playing itself out in public, in that the nomination process is around the corner. Without discussing the merits of the charges, Fraser bears the burden of proof,” political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast said.
“The sad thing is that the public is caught in the crossfire and, of course, this is going to hurt the ANC during election. It reinforces [the idea] that the ANC is corrupt to the core.”
Political analyst Sanush Naidu said: “The political play here is to discredit the president as much as you can. The message is that he’s not a nice guy, he’s not fighting corruption, he’s not going to be cleaning up house, because he himself has all kinds of skeletons in the closet.”
Now that charges have been laid, an investigating officer must be assigned. If authorities believe the case has reasonable prospects of success, the next step is to appoint a prosecutor.
Criminal law expert Ulrich Roux of Ulrich Roux & Associates said Fraser will have to show the president obtained more than $4m through “devious” and unlawful means for the criminal charges to stick.
“The difficulty here is if the president was in possession of so much foreign currency, he would have had to declare it with the SA Reserve Bank.”
Roux raised provisions in the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) and Reserve Bank regulations with which the holder of $4m or more in foreign currency would have to comply.
“The regulations are quite strict. It’s all about the source of the cash. You need to show who gave it to you. The goal is to show that it was not obtained through unlawful or illegal means,” he explained.
Magwenya said Ramaphosa was willing to co-operate with law enforcement and would not be deterred by “disinformation campaigns”, suggesting the presidency sees Fraser’s move as a tarnishing attempt.
Fraser, who said his complaint to the police was corroborated by photos, banking records and names, was appointed head of the State Security Agency under Zuma.
He was dubbed “the spy who saved Zuma” over his alleged role in the so-called spy tapes scandal, which he denies. The illicit recordings were crucial in enabling the then acting head of prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe to drop corruption charges against Zuma.
Fraser left his last government post nine months ago. Only two months into his presidency, Ramaphosa moved him from intelligence to the prisons system. His contract as correctional services commissioner expired on September 25.
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