A declassified report by South Africa’s police watchdog has reopened scrutiny over President Cyril Ramaphosa’s handling of the Phala Phala farm burglary case.
The report by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) links the president to an alleged off-the-books operation aimed at recovering $580,000 stolen from his game farm in 2020.
It alleges that members of Ramaphosa’s presidential protection unit operated outside formal legal procedures in attempts to trace the money and manage the fallout from the burglary.
The report further points to Major General Wally Rhoode, head of the presidential security unit, who is said to have led a cross-border operation into Namibia without following standard investigative protocols.
Investigators also claim that Ramaphosa instructed Rhoode to travel to Namibia shortly after one of the suspects was arrested there.
IPID further alleges that state resources were used in what it describes as efforts to handle a private crime case, including tracking suspects and attempting to recover the stolen cash without opening a formal case.
The watchdog also raised concerns that aspects of the operation involved intimidation of suspects, though Ramaphosa has not been directly accused of wrongdoing in the findings.
The report, concluded in 2023 but only recently made public, has been published by opposition party ActionSA and news outlet News24 following legal challenges.
Opposition leader Herman Mashaba has accused the governing African National Congress of shielding the president from accountability, a claim the party has not publicly addressed in detail.
The presidency, however, maintains that previous findings cleared Ramaphosa of abusing state resources, insisting there was no evidence of wrongdoing.
Ramaphosa has consistently said the money in question came from the sale of livestock and has denied any attempt to cover up the burglary.
The latest revelations add to long-running controversy surrounding the Phala Phala saga, which has remained a political flashpoint in South Africa since 2022.
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