Johannesburg - Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka has been called on to publish responses provided by President Cyril Ramaphosa to 31 questions about the Phala Phala farm scandal.
The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has asked Gcaleka to be transparent and make public Ramaphosa’s answers related to saga that has been dubbed Phala Phala Farmgate.
The questions were put to Ramaphosa by suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane over an alleged cover-up at the president’s Phala Phala farm in February 2020.
Mkhwebane, who sent the questions on June 7, requested Ramaphosa to answer within 14 days. Two days after being served the questions, Ramaphosa suspended Mkhwebane from the office with immediate effect.
Her suspension was effective from June 9, 2022.
Gcaleka, who was Mkhwebane’s deputy, was subsequently appointed as the acting public protector.
Ramaphosa was accused of hiding a sum of $4 million under a mattress and couches at Phala Phala farm in the Waterberg, Limpopo. He was also accused of failing to report the crime and abusing his power by using state resources in the form of the Presidential Protection Services after he allegedly deployed Major-General Wally Rhoode to investigate the crime.
The president answered the questions under Gcaleka in July 2022 and was cleared of any wrongdoing in Gcaleka’s preliminary report last month.
The report found that the allegation that Ramaphosa violated the Executive Ethics Code and that there was a conflict of interest between his business interests and his constitutional obligations was not substantiated.
However, in the letter sent to the public protector's office last week, the IRR’s head of campaigns Gabriel Crouse and campaign manager Mlondi Mdluli accused Gcaleka and her office of dragging their feet to have Ramaphosa’s answers published.
Crouse and Mdluli said Gcaleka did not publish Ramaphosa’s answers to Mkhwebane’s questions despite their request and an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA).
The IRR said the request was made on December 9, 2022.
According to the letter, Gcaleka prevented members of Parliament from knowing what Ramaphosa’s answers to Mkhwebane’s questions were.
The IRR said when Ramaphosa answered the questions in July, he was instructed by Gcaleka’s office to keep the answers hidden from the public eye.
“He was told that if the public knew his answers to the questions this could jeopardise the investigation into Phala Phala,” read the letter.
Mkhwebane submitted that the answers should be published. Meanwhile, Ramaphosa had also submitted that he had “no objection” to the answers going public. The IRR said it believed that it was Gceleka’s office and nothing else keeping the answers from the public.
In the letter sent last week, Crouse and Mdluli said they were aware that Gcaleka sent a preliminary report to the implicated subjects for a response on March 10, 2023. They said due to an alleged leak, rumours of the report’s contents were rife, increasingly eroding trust in the process.
As result, Crouse and Mdluli want Gcaleka to clarify the following questions:
- Have any respondents asked for and been granted an extension to respond?
- Are you prepared to release the findings?
- Do you agree that transparency is essential to mitigating credibility risks?
“This is a matter of vital public interest. Therefore, this letter and your response will be disclosed to the public (ie members of the IRR as well as ordinary South Africans who rely on your office to uphold the Constitution according to your oath of office) so that they can be informed about the current developments,” the letter read.
The IRR promotes policy solutions and fights for freedom, equality of opportunity and the rights of every individual.
Asked if the acting public protector intended to respond to the letter, acting spokesperson Ndili Msoki acknowledged the query and added that he would try to respond as soon as possible. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, did not respond.
Opposition political parties also weighed in.
The African Transformation Movement (ATM) said it was dissatisfied with how Gcaleka had been dealing with the Phala Phala investigation was on record.
ATM spokesperson Zama Ntshona said the party even marched to the public protector’s offices to raise “our disquiet about the protracted delays in contravention of the stipulated time frames in the Executive Members Ethics Act”.
“The ATM has since met the deadline to respond to the interim report and did not request any extensions and shall await the final report before commenting further,” Ntshona said.
Meanwhile, the ANC voted against establishing an ad hoc committee to investigate allegations related to Phala Phala. Although political parties challenged Ramaphosa to come clean and be transparent.
Freedom Front Plus leader Johannes Groenewald said Ramaphosa should be transparent to the people of South Africa, answer all questions, and appear in front of a parliamentary committee to save his credibility and integrity.
Former president Thabo Mbeki this week questioned why the ANC blocked any parliamentary investigation into the Phala Phala matter in a letter written to Deputy President Paul Mashatile.