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South Africa’s public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane said recently that she would invoke the body’s “subpoena powers” to get answers on the theft of foreign currency in Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game reserve. This issue is being hotly discussed in the economic and political circles of the country and its economic impact has yet to be ascertained
South Africa’s public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane said recently that she would invoke the body’s “subpoena powers” to get answers on the theft of foreign currency in Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game reserve. This issue is being hotly discussed in the economic and political circles of the country and its economic impact has yet to be ascertained.
A statement issued by her office said that the President had until July 18, 2022, to respond to the allegation letter of June 07, 2022, after his previous request to have the initial return date of June 22, 2022, extended. Any extension of this date is not possible, the statement seems to have conveyed.
Subpoena powers empower the Public Protector of South Africa (PPSA) to direct any person to submit an affidavit or affirmed declaration or to appear before him or her to provide any document in his or her possession or under his or her control.
Ramaphosa is facing hostile domestic political and economic issues. Allegations of kidnapping and corruption were leveled against him. The person raising such allegations is South Africa’s former spy chief, Arthur Fraser.
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The case has a history since February 2020. According to the complaint filed at a Johannesburg police station by Fraser, robbers allegedly broke into Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in the northeast of the country, where they found about US$4 million in cash hidden in furniture. Ramaphosa disputed the sum of money in question. However, he conceded that he used to buy and sell animals “sometimes through cash, sometimes through transfers”. In South Africa it is illegal not to report a crime and according to Fraser’s affidavit. Ramaphosa claimed he reported the theft to the head of his VIP Protection unit, who in turn did not report it to the police.
