Johannesburg - Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka has allegedly done almost nothing after taking over the Phala Phala farm robbery investigation when President Cyril Ramaphosa suspended advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane in June.
When former state security director-general Arthur Fraser and his legal team met the public protector investigators on Thursday, they were shocked to discover that Gcaleka hasn’t done much after taking over.
The case’s chief investigator, Xolani Dlamini, didn’t even have Fraser’s complete affidavit which he submitted at the Rosebank police station in June when he opened a criminal case against Ramaphosa and his head of security, General Wally Rhoode.
The Sunday Independent can today reveal that when the four public protector investigators, including Dlamini, met with Fraser on Thursday, didn’t even have a set of questions to ask him.
“We went to assist them after they sent us a letter requesting a meeting with Arthur.
“But it was clear during the meeting that they needed more time as they didn’t even have Arthur’s complete affidavit with all the annexures, which are supposed to be the foundation of their investigation,” Frase’s lawyer, Eric Mabuza, said yesterday.
Dlamini, as the chief investigator, is the one who penned the letter requesting Fraser “to avail” himself “for an interview” at the public protector’s office on Thursday because they “have a reason to believe that you may be in possession of information with a bearing to this investigation”.
But when Fraser arrived flanked by his legal team led by advocate Muzi Sikhakhane, former National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) boss, advocate Shaun Abrahams, and Mabuza, Dlamini and his investigators were allegedly “disorganised with little or no information except for the answered questions by the president and Rhoode” which were sent by Mkhwebane.
Sunday Independent has seen the letter Mabuza sent to Dlamini on Thursday afternoon, after their meeting, where the lawyer confirmed that “Fraser presented himself for the interview”, but Dlamini “requested that the interview be adjourned so that your office could formulate written questions for Fraser”.
The letter also added that Dlamini “undertook to submit the questions to Fraser by no later than Wednesday, September 14, 2022.
“You also understood to collect a complete copy of the statement he (Fraser) submitted at Rosebank Police Station from our office on Monday, September 12, 2022.”
A source with intimate knowledge of the public protector investigation claimed that Fraser was only asked to come to the office with the hope that he was not going to cooperate.
“They planned that they were going to use that so they say the investigation couldn’t be completed because Fraser didn’t co-operate with the office of the public protector and when Arthur showed up, they didn’t know what to do or say to him," the source said.
Another source claims Fraser was only “summoned on a fishing expedition” to help with the investigation.
In his affidavit, Fraser accused Ramaphosa and Rhoode of kidnapping and torture and also failing to report the robbery at any police station.
Fraser claims, in his affidavit, that there was between $4 million and $8m (more than R69m and R138m) at the farm in Bela-Bela, Limpopo when five Namibian nationals broke in and stole the money that was concealed in the furniture including a mattress.
African Transformation Movement (ATM) leader, Vuyolwethu Zungula, wrote to the Speaker of Parliament, Nosiviwe Maphisa-Nqakula, shortly after the Phala Phala scandal broke, asking her to initiate a Section 89 inquiry for the possible impeachment of Ramaphosa, and also lodged a complaint with the public protector’s office, yesterday said the latest developments raise more questions than answers.
“This casts doubt on the utterances that Gcaleka made when receiving the memorandum on Friday that her team has been working the case around the clock, while they failed to collect basic documents like Fraser’s affidavit which was submitted to the police in June.
“The biggest question now is what was the public protector’s office investigating over the past three months, did Gcaleka lie to the public and members of Parliament?” Zungula said.
On Friday, Zungula and other leaders of the opposition political parties and their supporters, including some ANC members, marched to the public protector’s office where they handed their memorandum to Gcaleka to demand her “immediate release of the Phala Phala report.”
The memorandum states that the Phala Phala farm robbery “scandal has damaged the reputation and standing of South Africa both globally and continentally”.
They accused Gcaleka of “unlawful and irrational delays” in releasing her report as prescribed in the Public Protector Act that states that the report must be issued in 30 days, which “leaves much to be desired”.
Receiving the memorandum on Friday, Gcaleka promised that the public protector’s office would continue to execute its duties “knowing there is no political undue influence in this office”.
“This office needs to do its work independently, without fear, without favour and without prejudice to ensure it produces credible reports which will stand the test of legal processes,” she said.
Public protector spokesperson Oupa Segalwe yesterday refuted the claims that Gcaleka has done nothing after taking over the Phala Phala investigation.
“For the last three months, the investigation team has been working around clock on the matter, meeting with various sources of information as part of evidence-gathering efforts.
“The office will respond to the opposition parties’ memorandum of demands within seven days.
“The claim that the acting public protector is dragging her feet and shielding the president from scrutiny has no merit.
“Her interest is for the office to conduct the investigation with integrity and ethics, without any undue interference and to carry out the work independently and impartially, without fear, favour or prejudice.
“Given previous successful reviews of some of our investigation reports, it is of paramount importance for the office to produce a credible report, which will pass muster with the constitution and the law,” he said.
Meanwhile, a full bench of the Western Cape High Court has set aside Ramaphosa’s suspension of Mkhwebane saying it would be a reasonable perception that the president was not of impartial mind when he suspended the public protector.
Ramaphosa suspended Mkhwebane within 24 hours after she sent him a list of 31 questions to answer about the Phala Phala scandal.
The court found, from an objective point of view, that Mkhwebane’s decision to investigate Ramaphosa and sent him the questions, “prompted the president not to wait a day more and to immediately suspend her”.
The court added that “when the events that unfolded between June 7-10, 2022, discussed above, are objectively examined, it is irresistible to conclude that the decision of the president was improper”.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, said the president has noted the ruling and that he would seek guidance from the Constitution on the next steps to take.
The DA immediately appealed the decision with Mkhwebane’s lawyers saying their reading of the order “is legally flawed” and that their client viewed it “as an act of vindictive desperation”.