By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Office of the Public Protector has completed its investigation into President Cyril Ramaphosa’s handling of the robbery at his Phala Phala farm in 2020.
The office has been investigating whether Ramaphosa may have violated the Executive Ethics Code in relation to the theft of thousands of US dollars on his Limpopo farm, at the request of the African Transformation Movement (ATM).
The party has now been informed that an interim report has already been drafted.
In the letter to the ATM, The acting executive manager of the office’s investigations branch, Vusumuzi Dlamini said: “Kindly be advised that the investigation into this matter has been completed. The investigation team has already drafted an interim report.”
According to the communication, the interim report will go through internal review structures “for quality assurance purposes”.
Dlamini added, once the quality assurance process is completed, the interim report shall then be served to the relevant parties, in line with Rules Relating to Investigations by the Public Protector and Matters Incidental thereto, 2018, as promulgated under Section 7(11) of the Public Protector Act, to allow them to comment on the intended findings before the report is made final.
This is to allow them to comment on the findings before a final report is issued.
An independent panel investigation ordered by Parliament has already found that Ramaphosa may have a case to answer for, and that anti-corruption laws may also have been violated.
The ATM plans to head to court next month, to challenge proceedings of the National Assembly last month not to probe the matter any further.