By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence says there was no evidence that crime intelligence funds were used to track down alleged suspects following a robbery at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm.
JSCI also said there was no evidence to suggest that Deputy State Security Minister Zizi Kodwa was involved in the cover-up.
Kodwa is alleged to have accompanied the head of the Presidential Protection Unit to Namibia in pursuit of suspects.
This came after National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on 5 August requested the JSCI to investigate specific allegations.
“It found that there is no independently verifiable information to support the allegations against Kodwa regarding the Phala Phala Farm matter and claims that Kodwa had used resources of the secret services’ account to conceal the theft of US dollars from the president’s farm in 2020.
“The consideration of this matter by the JSCI for the purposes of reporting to the National Assembly as requested by the Speaker was conducted in terms of the oversight mandate of the committee as set out in the Constitution and the Act. Whilst this matter was considered in line with the relevant legal framework, it however, does not have any bearing on any other organ of state currently engaged with the same matter. The JSCI’s findings should not be construed as an endorsement or exoneration of any of the affected parties in the Phala Phala game farm theft,” the committee found.
Last month, during oral questions about the agency’s activities in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), Kodwa denied reports that the State Security Agency (SSA) played a role in the concealing of crime at the President’s farm, adding that no state security resources were used to conceal the theft of US dollars from the president’s farm in 2020.