Phala Phala: ANC MPs ‘seeking guidance’ ahead of debate, while investigator guns for Arthur Fraser

ANC’s parliamentary caucus is expected to meet next week to discuss how the ruling party will respond to the Section 89 panel’s report on Phala Phala.

This week, the independent panel was granted an extension to complete its investigation into President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm scandal.

The panel, which has to make a recommendation on whether there is a prima facie case for Ramaphosa’s impeachment, will submit a report with its findings to National Assembly, Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on 30 November.

Debate

With the report set to be debated and vote on in the National Assembly on 6 December, ANC MPs are are seeking guidance from the governing party’s leadership on how to approach the matter.

Sunday Times has reported that ANC’s political committee, which is chaired by deputy president David Mabuza, will meet with the party’s caucus on Wednesday.

The caucus is also expected to convene a meeting following discussions with the political committee, which consists of ANC’s senior MPs including Mapisa-Nqakula, National Assembly Deputy Speaker Lechesa Tsenoli and chief whip Pemmy Majodina among others.

Cabinet ministers Lindiwe Sisulu, Gwede Mantashe, and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma also form part of the committee.

Opposition parties are also preparing their response to the panel’s findings.

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The African Transformation Movement (ATM), which tabled the Section 89 motion against Ramaphosa, has confirmed that the party will take the panel’s report on review if it does not recommend an impeachment inquiry.

“After listening to [former presidents] Kgalema Motlanthe and Thabo Mbeki, I got an impression that they are of the view that there is a case to answer and the ANC should be prepared for that,” ATM leader Vuyo, Zungula told Sunday Times on Friday.

The Democratic Alliance (DA), however, has yet again called for the establishment of an ad hoc committee, saying it would investigate the Phala Phala matter properly.

United Democratic Movement (UDM) president Bantu Holomisa said his party would decide on its action at a later stage.

Arthur Fraser

Meanwhile, forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan is gunning for former State Security Agency (SSA) director-general Arthur Fraser.

O’Sullivan laid criminal charges of defeating the ends of justice against Fraser at the Rosebank Police Station on Friday morning, City Press has reported.

This follows the leaking of Fraser’s letter – sent to the Hawks on 23 June – which implicated O’Sullivan in the Phala Phala saga.

In the letter, Fraser claimed that O’Sullivan’s role in the matter was tracing the suspects linked to the theft, but the private investigator has denied the former Correctional Services commissioner’s allegations.

READ MORE: Arthur Fraser ‘tricked’ Presidential Protection Unit head into giving up Phala Phala info – report

“Not only are Fraser’s claims untrue, but they are also defamatory,” O’Sullivan said in his affidavit.

O’Sullivan previously argued that Fraser’s intention was to derail Ramaphosa’s ANC presidency bid ahead of the party’s 55th national elective conference in December.

“I can categorically state that neither I, nor anyone reporting to me, was ever involved in any investigations of a housebreaking that allegedly took place at Phala Phala in February 2020, or the tracing of any suspects. I have read the so-called docket of Fraser and I am at a loss to understand why he does not explain why he kept quiet for two years, if he genuinely believed that Ramaphosa had committed any offence,” the document further reads.

The investigator has since called on the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) to invite Fraser to explain “when and from where he got his so-called evidence, as well as the timing of the case he opened”.

O’Sullivan also has requested that the police take another look at how Rhoode escaped prosecution in the multimillion-rand corruption scandal he was previously involved in.