Ramaphosa must come clean on cash

THE silence around the origins of the millions of US dollars alleged to have been found hidden in a mattress at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm is deafening … and instead of it going away, more allegations around the matter keep sufacing.

In a recent twist regarding the fiasco, the UDM’s Bantu Holomisa has requested that the independent panel probing the burglary incident at the president’s farm investigate allegations that Bejani Chauke, top adviser to the head of state, illegally brought millions of US dollars to South Africa.

This week, Holomisa submitted to the panel a letter believed to have been written by Arthur Fraser as additional information to assist the Hawks with the probe.

The letter names Chauke as the person who is responsible for smuggling large sums of US dollars from various countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Morocco and Equatorial Guinea.

Instead of being concealed at the president’s farm, it is alleged that the said “loot” was concealed in one of Chauke’s couches at his place of residence. This is apparently the money that was stolen from the president’s farm in 2020, and not any money derived from the sale of animals.

The letter suggested that the Hawks obtain Ramaphosa’s business records of animal sales and hunting that took place at Phala Phala and other farms between March 1, 2019 and February 29, 2020.

There is every reason to suspect that what this will reveal is how our president and his cronies have been involved in money laundering.

Until Ramaphosa takes the nation into his confidence and tells the truth, South Africans will continue questioning his integrity and most will go on accusing the president of being involved in a money-laundering scheme.

There are those who believe that his adviser, Chauke, is being made a fall guy for the president … which seemingly confirms Holomisa’s suspicions that it appears as if there is a concerted effort to cover up what really happened.