An employee at President Cyril Ramaphosa's Phala Phala game farm near Bela Bela in Limpopo says he saw footage of the brazen 2020 burglary in which millions of dollars were allegedly stolen.
The Sunday Times visited the area this week, where the employee told how two culprits had been caught on CCTV.
“One guy is seen approaching the house. Then we saw another guy coming and the two of them entered the house and then walked out with the proceeds,” said the employee, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.
Former State Security Agency director-general Arthur Fraser this week laid a criminal complaint against Ramaphosa, claiming that between $4m (R62m) and $8m in cash had been stolen during the burglary. Fraser has accused Ramaphosa of breaching the Prevention of Organised Crime Act by not reporting the case.
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But the employee said he doubted the $4m figure quoted by Fraser.
“To be honest, that figure is inflated. There is no way that much money was kept in the house.”
The Sunday Times has established that five people were involved in the burglary, including a domestic worker.
The farm’s manager, Hendrik von Wielligh, confirmed the burglary.
“It's hard to secure every square inch of the farm’s perimeter. We have had small incidents of theft — like speakers and small items, but nothing this big,” he said.
He said the farm’s security consisted of Ramaphosa’s police presidential security detail.
To be honest, that figure is inflated. There is no way that much money was kept in the house
— Employee
Asked if the amount stolen had been $4m, Von Wielligh said: “I can't confirm that.”
Fraser claims the suspects were subsequently kidnapped and interrogated — and then paid to keep silent.
The burglary occurred while Ramaphosa was attending an AU summit in Addis Ababa.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the president had reported the matter to the head of the Presidential Protection Unit of the SAPS for investigation.
Two police officers manned the entrance to Phala Phala game reserve this week. They said they had been tasked with controlling access to the property. One of the officers told the Sunday Times he had not heard about the incident until this week.
“Our job is to control access to the people who come here. We didn't even hear about this burglary until this week,” he said.
Asked if they could have unwittingly allowed the criminals onto the farm, the officer said: “Maybe. We would have not known about the burglary without being informed.”
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