President Cyril Ramaphosa has dismissed suggestions that he may have violated foreign exchange control regulations after allegations that he stashed US dollars at his Limpopo farm.
Weekend reports suggested the president may have broken the law in not immediately handing over his dollars to an authorised dealer, like a bank.
“No, I am not [involved in any money laundering or violating foreign exchange regulations],” Ramaphosa said in a terse reply to questions from journalists after addressing the ANC’s Limpopo provincial elective conference on Sunday.
In an extraordinary move last week, former spy boss Arthur Fraser dropped a bombshell when he laid a criminal complaint against Ramaphosa, including allegations of money laundering, kidnapping and corruption.
The allegations, which come six months before the ANC internal leadership contest in December, where Ramaphosa is expected to seek a second term as the party’s president, have raised questions about Fraser’s motive and threaten to shoot holes in the president’s corruption fighting credentials.
Fraser, who is said to be a close ally of former president Jacob Zuma and the so-called radical economic transformation faction, said in an affidavit that Ramaphosa had concealed more than $4m on his Limpopo farm, Phala Phala, in 2020.
Ramaphosa’s office has since confirmed that there was a robbery at his farm, but denied he broke the law.
It is not clear exactly how long the president held on to the foreign currency before the theft, but Reserve Bank regulations state that “authorised dealers may authorise travel agents, hotels, restaurants, shops and other entities whose business is directly related to the tourist industry to accept foreign bank notes and foreign currency traveller’s cheques from visitors to SA in payment of goods supplied and services rendered against a written undertaking that such foreign currency will be sold to an authorised dealer not later than the following business day after acquisition thereof”.
There is also a grace period of 30 days for merchants to trade with foreign businesses (and 60 days for trade with those from other African countries), though the wording of the regulations implies that such transactions must still be facilitated via authorised dealers (such as banks), which must record the details of transacting parties and ensure they have trade agreements and invoices for the transaction that show how much profit the SA entity made, presumably for tax purposes.
In situations where such requirements cannot be fulfilled, a written application must be made to the Bank’s financial surveillance department.
Business Day requested clarity on these issues from the Bank, but at the time of publication, it was not able to answer.
The Sunday Times cited Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, as saying the president bred and sold valuable game at Phala Phala, including sable, red oryx and buffalo. “Generally, all sales are either paid through EFT or in cash,” Magwenya told Business Day’s sister publication, adding that buyers often come from overseas and pay in dollars.
Political agenda
“The cash was stolen before it could be reported and banked,” Magwenya said.
On Sunday, Ramaphosa would not say how much was stolen from his farm, but stated it was “way below the figures bandied about.
“The money mentioned is far less than the $4m. And it was proceeds from the sale of animals,” he said. “I want to assure you that all this was money from proceeds from selling animals ... I have never stolen money from anybody, be it taxpayers ... I have never done so. My integrity as the leader will never allow me to do so. I will continue to fight corruption. I want to make it clear.”
He added: “Some of these things have their own political agenda and we are aware of that, but it will not deter me from fighting corruption ... I will co-operate with any [investigation] process”.
Fraser, who was head of the State Security Agency between 2016 and 2018, was most recently the head of the prison service. Late last year, he ordered Zuma’s release on medical parole after the former president was jailed for contempt of court.
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