Calls for impeachment: ATM urges action against President Ramaphosa after new Phala Phala revelations
President Cyril Ramaphosa has denied any link to allegations raised in a leaked IPID report, insisting the claims do not implicate him personally.
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President Cyril Ramaphosa is facing calls of impeachment after a bombshell Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) report into the 2020 Phala Phala farm robbery.
According to the report, disciplinary action is recommended for two police officials from the Presidential Protection Service (PPS): Major General Wally Rhoode and Constable HH Rekhoto, for their alleged involvement in a cover-up.
The focus has now shifted from the initial theft to the subsequent actions of the State.
The African Transformation Movement (ATM) highlighted the allegation that members of the SAPS acted as a “private enforcement unit” for the president, allegedly concealing crimes, bypassing due process, and unlawfully mobilising state resources without even opening a criminal case.
A major source of concern for the party is the confirmation that Ramaphosa personally told Major General Rhoode to “handle the issue”, a connection the ATM views as “direct and undeniable”.
The party has already written to the Speaker of Parliament, demanding the immediate initiation of impeachment proceedings against Ramaphosa in terms of Section 89 of the Constitution.
Further demands include the establishment of a Parliamentary Committee through the Portfolio Committee on Police, an urgent intervention by the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, and the criminal prosecution of all implicated individuals “without fear or favour”.
ActionSA spokesperson Matthew George added: “While ActionSA will not speculate on the ways by which the President appears to have evaded accountability, it is patently clear that no meaningful consequences have followed these findings.
“The silence of GNU parties in the face of such a clear case of wrongdoing is telling.”
In response, the Presidency said that according to the Public Protector’s Report, there was “no link or nexus” that could be established between presidential advisor Dr Bejani Chauke's “trip to Namibia and the investigation that was conducted by PPS” following the burglary at the Phala Phala farm.
It added the Public Protector “could not find any evidence upon which to conclude that after reporting this crime to General Rhoode, the president abused his power in utilising state resources by causing the PPS members to be deployed at the Phala Phala farm and to investigate the crime of housebreaking...”