By: Natasha Archary
The South African Revenue Services (SARS) has no record the $580 000 paid to President Cyril Ramaphosa was declared.
This was in response to DA leader John Steenhuisen filing a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) with SARS in December 2022.
As reported by News24, SARS revealed that either the record doesn’t exist or that the revenue service simply can’t find it.
Ramaphosa claims that the money stolen from his Phala Phala game farm came from the sale of cattle.
The President said the money came from a Sudanese businessman, Hazim Mustafa, who paid the $580 000 in cash.
However, SARS says there are no records of Mustafa declaring the large amount of cash, which he brought into the country in 2019.
Steenhuisen had requested a copy of the declaration from SARS, but the revenue service says no such document was found.
This despite Mustafa reportedly showing journalists from Sky News the document.
According to the publication, a case legal specialist at SARS, Siyabonga Nkabinde searched for the records, which could not be found.
Mustafa paid the money to Sylvester Ndlovu, who works for the President. The money was moved to a safe in the main building but was later moved under the sofa cushions at Phala Phala.
Ramaphosa’s attempt to contest the Phala Phala report in court was unsuccessful.
The Constitutional Court (ConCourt) has dismissed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s attempt to seek direct access to challenge the findings of the scathing Section 89 Phala Phala report.
The court decision entails that the president will have to approach the high court to challenge the report’s adverse findings against him.
The Section 89 Phala Phala report found prima facie evidence that Ramaphosa had violated his oath of office during and following the robbery at his Phala Phala farm in Limpopo in February 2020.
