President Cyril Ramaphosa will appear in the National Assembly on Tuesday with MPs set to quiz him about the alleged cover-up of theft of US dollars at his luxury Phala Phala farmhouse.‘’
The scandal, which has heaped pressure on Ramaphosa amid heightened tensions in the governing ANC ahead of the party’s elective conference in December, stems from former spy boss Arthur Fraser who laid a criminal complaint against the president, including allegations of money laundering, kidnapping and corruption.
Fraser, said to be an 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.
African Transformation Movement (ATM) leader Vuyo Zungula will ask Ramaphosa “whether, notwithstanding the ongoing investigations by the Hawks and the acting public protector, he has considered it prudent to take the nation into his confidence on the serious allegations surrounding his Phala Phala farm, by accounting to the people of SA
Zungula will also ask whether, with the benefit of hindsight, Ramaphosa has found that he could have responded differently to the allegations.
The National Council of Provinces will be briefed by finance minister Enoch Godongwana and co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on “measures to mitigate against fiscal leakages and their impact on service delivery”.
On Wednesday, the standing committee on finance will be briefed by the National Treasury on the General Laws Amendment (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Bill. The cabinet recently approved the bill, which will tighten the law relating to the beneficial ownership of companies, trusts and non-profit organisations.
The measures are a crucial step for SA to avoid a greylisting by the Financial Action Task Force, an international body that establishes standards for the combating of money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Greylisting, which essentially means the country is seen as a high-risk jurisdiction in which to transact, will have dire consequences for the economy and in particular the financial sector.
On Thursday, parliament will debate the economic impact of theft and vandalism of public infrastructure. Railway lines, electricity pylons and road barriers are among infrastructure items that are constantly targeted by syndicates, which sell to local dealers or smuggle the stolen metal to overseas markets as scrap without being detected. The department of trade, industry & competition has subsequently proposed that exports of ferrous and nonferrous waste and scrap metal of any kind listed in the schedule be banned for an initial period of six months from the date of publication of the final notice.
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