Hazim Mustafa and his wife Bianca ODonoghue. Photo: Facebook
The Sudanese businessman who paid $580 000 (R8 million) in cash to buy 20 buffalo from President Cyril Ramaphosa claims he was initially unaware of who the animals belonged to when he bought them.
Ramaphosa has come under fire for what has become widely known as the Phala Phala “farmgate” scandal, following the release of a scathing report related to a burglary at his game farm.
Compiled by the Section 89 panel to decide whether the president had a case to answer over money stolen from his farm in Limpopo in February 2020, it made damning findings against him.
The report found there was prima facie evidence against Ramaphosa, and that he acted in a way that was inconsistent with his oath of office.
Businessman and owner of Sudanese football club Al Merrikh SC Hazim Mustafa told Sky News that he was in Limpopo celebrating Christmas and his wife’s birthday, but did not know who the buffalo or the farm belonged to.
“I wasn’t aware it belonged to the president. I dealt with a broker – the one working on Phala Phala farm.”
ALSO: READ: Niehaus claims Ramaphosa rented a ‘crowd of thugs’ and paid them in food to ‘attack’ him
When asked how he brought more than half a million dollars in cash into South Africa, Mustafa responded “through the airport.”
“I declared it, in Johannesburg – yes, O.R Tambo airport,” he said, but would not agree to present the declaration forms as evidence, citing the parliamentary process currently underway.
The panel’s report raised the question of why the buffalo were still on the farm three years after the receipt of sale.
“When we did the deal, they were supposed to prepare the animals for export. Then the Covid-19 lockdown happened and there was delay after delay after delay,” Mustafa said.
“It took too long, so I didn’t get my money back but there is an understanding that I will be refunded,” he added.
According to News24 citing online news outlet Monte Carro, Mustafa was reportedly close to former Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir.
It is further reported that Mustafa’s assets and bank accounts were frozen by United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities, following an investigation into his business partner, who was accused of espionage.
Meanwhile, Ramaphosa said Parliament’s Section 89 expert panel, chaired by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, failed to carry out its mandate, produced a flawed report, and failed to establish whether confidential information put before it as evidence was legally obtained by former spy boss Arthur Fraser.
Ramaphosa made a submission to the Constitutional to have the report reviewed and set aside.
Fraser laid a criminal complaint against Ramaphosa in June, accusing him of breaching the Prevention of Organised Crime Act by not reporting the robbery.
He claimed the suspects who broke into the president’s property were subsequently kidnapped, interrogated, and paid off to keep silent.
According to the statement by Fraser, the millions of “undeclared” US dollars were stashed away inside pieces of furniture at the game farm.
ALSO READ: Possibility of many ANC MPs voting for Section 89 report ‘should not be ruled out’
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