DA calls on Ramaphosa to own up about $4 million robbery

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to come clean about the $4 million robbery at his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo.

Ramaphosa has come under fire for refusing to provide key details on the robbery and denied any wrongdoing regarding his stolen millions, which the party has now termed “DollarGate”.

Former spy boss Arthur Fraser laid a complaint against Ramaphosa last week, 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 to keep silent.

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa refuses to provide key details of $4 million robbery

The president has called for patience pending a full investigation into the burglary, which has irked some of his critics, including the DA.

DA leader John Steenhuisen said Ramaphosa is facing a crisis of credibility and cannot hide behind procedural smokescreens to avoid presenting South Africans with the full truth around the money.

“Nothing less than the full truth from the president will suffice, even if this should damage his public standing, open him up to possible criminal charges and compromise his prospects of re-election at his party’s elective conference,” said Steenhuisen.

The DA leader fired off a series of questions that the party wants Ramaphosa to answer.

“Too many questions remain unanswered. How much money was kept on the farm and in what currency? How much of it was stolen? How did this foreign currency get into the country? How long was it stored on the president’s property? Were the correct exchange controls observed? And does the president still hold foreign currency at his farm or any of his other properties?”

“Similarly, there are many unanswered questions around the handling of the robbery itself, and particularly around the failure to report it to the South African Police Service (Saps). South Africans need to know whether the president has no faith in Saps, or whether there were other reasons for withholding this crime from the police,” Steenhuisen said.

Steenhuisen said if all is above board, as Ramaphosa claims, then a full disclosure is in both the Presidency and nation’s best interests, while failure to do so will damage both.

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa’s millions: Here’s what you could do with $4 million in South Africa