Mkhwebane: ‘I have been vindicated in the Ipid report on Phala Phala

Former public protectorBusisiwe Mkhwebanesays a recently declassified Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid)reportinto the handling of thePhala Phalafarm theft supports her long-standing claims that senior police officials acted improperly in their response to the scandal. The report recommended disciplinary action against Presidential Protection Service head Major GeneralWally Rhoodeand Constable Hlulani Rekhoto after finding failures to follow police procedures and legal obligations in the handling of the theft of foreign currency from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Limpopo farm in 2020. Among Ipid’s findings were that no criminal case docket was initially opened after the theft and that members of the Presidential Protection Service became involved in efforts to trace the missing money outside ordinary policing processes.

The report also examined allegations relating to the handling and apprehension of suspects linked to the theft. The report further found that police failed to report the theft at a police station, in line with SAPS procedures; used members of the Presidential Protection Unit to investigate the president’s private business matter; allegedly kidnapped and unlawfully interrogated suspects connected to the theft; failed to report prescribed offences under the SAPS Act; allegedly bribed suspects to conceal events linked to the theft; and conducted investigations outside the scope of their legal authority. Ipid identified Rhoode and Rekhoto as the SAPS members most closely involved in the alleged cover-up of the theft.

In his statement to investigators, Rhoode admitted that the criminal investigations fell outside the scope of his official duties. Mkhwebane said the findings confirmed concerns previously raised by her office during itsown investigationinto the Phala Phala matter. “All the evidence we gave to Ipid was that the police did their work in an unlawful way,” she told theMail & Guardian.

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“They even travelled to Namibia to arrest those people, to beat them and it’s very gruesome what they did.” Mkhwebane said her office referred aspects of the matter to Ipid because the Public Protector Act allowed her office to refer matters to other institutions where appropriate. “During an investigation, when you find that another institution can investigate the matter, you refer it. Hence, we referred it to Ipid to deal with those police officials,” she said.

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