Ramaphosa took Cabinet into his confidence on robbery at his farm, says Gungubele

President Cyril Ramaphosa has taken Cabinet into confidence on the alleged theft of $4 million (about R61 million) in cash at his game farm in Limpopo.

That’s according to the Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele, who says the president on Wednesday briefed his Cabinet ministers on the criminal complaint lodged against him last week by former spy boss Arthur Fraser.

“The president took the Cabinet into his confidence on the matter, it’s important to actually state that,” Gungubele said.

He was speaking on Thursday in Cape Town during a media briefing on the outcomes of Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting.

Ramaphosa has come under increasing public pressure to come clean on the robbery at his Phala Phala farm two years ago, after Fraser laid a criminal complaint against him of money laundering, kidnapping and corruption.

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Fraser alleged that the president was involved in an elaborate cover-up of the crime after criminals – allegedly working in cahoots with his domestic worker – broke into his property and stole millions of US dollars in cash.

He further claimed that the suspects were subsequently kidnapped, interrogated, and paid to keep silent.

Investigations ongoing

While Gungubele did not want to elaborate on the alleged theft at the farm, he appealed for patience from the public while law enforcement agencies investigate Fraser’s allegations.

“The matter of the robbery at the president’s precinct is under the law enforcement agencies. They’re actually investigating the matter [and] financial institutions are investigating the matter.

“The approach is to leave it to all those institutions until we are clarified on what the outcome is going to be, and then we can actually cross that bridge when we reach it,” Gungubele said.

Mabuza on Ramaphosa’s farm theft

Meanwhile, Deputy President David Mabuza on Wednesday came to the defence of Ramaphosa during his question and answer session in Parliament.

Mabuza brushed off calls for the president to resign or step aside amid investigations into the robbery at his farm, insisting that MPs should not “jump the gun” while investigations continued.

“The issues around the farm robbery at the president’s place, I think that has been reported to the police and I take it that we should allow the respective law enforcement agencies to investigate without our interference and make their investigation known.

“If they want to charge the president, they will do so at the proper time. I think we should allow that process to unfold,” he said.

Additional reporting by Molefe Seeletsa

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