Shadowy behavior by the South African president on his buffalo farm could lead to his impeachment

On a hot, rainy day, the dirt road to Phala Phala, the farm of President Cyril Ramaphosa, 70, in South Africa’s Limpopo province, has turned to mud on a hot, rainy day. Experienced drivers know that you don’t have to drive slower, but rather faster in order not to get stuck. You would think that a president would make the route to his lot more pleasant, which gives the impression that he does not want to draw much attention to it. A police car, parked on the inside of the gate, honks a few times as the reporter and photographer drive past the estate too slowly. No snoopers here.

The reason for the warning will be that the farm is the subject of a ‘farmgate’ corruption scandal that may lead to Ramaphosa’s impeachment. Last Wednesday, a parliamentary committee released a damning report accusing the president, who has been in office since 2018, of money laundering, bribery, concealing a crime and obstructing police investigations in connection with an alleged theft of $4 million from his farm . The top of the governing party ANC was supposed to decide his fate on Friday, but eventually postponed the meeting until Sunday.

Damaging report calls money laundering, bribery and concealment a crime

Ramaphosa still has a lot of supporters in the party. “My opinion is that it would be premature for the president to resign without due process,” energy minister Gwede Mantashe told the Newzroom Africa TV channel on Friday.

The theft was made public in June by Arthur Fraser, former head of South Africa’s state security agency and allied with former outgoing president Jacob Zuma. According to him, Ramaphosa’s housekeeper, whose identity is protected, discovered the huge amount of money in the cushions of a sofa two years ago. She informed her brother and had a gang break into the farm.

Ramaphosa did not report the theft to the police, but is said to have recovered part of the stolen loot after questioning by his own security guards. Fraser claims that the housekeeper and the alleged perpetrators later received some $10,000 in hush money. Wednesday’s report states that it is illegal to own such large amounts of foreign currency. The money was also not declared to the tax authorities.

30,000 euros per cow

The president himself claims to have earned the money from the sale of his cattle, which is his other great passion in addition to politics. For example, he breeds rare Ankole cattle, which he imported from Uganda and sells at auctions for amounts that can amount to around 30,000 euros per animal. He also breeds wild animals, including African buffalo, one of the so-called big fivesable antelopes and impalas.

Sudanese Mustafa Mohamed Ibrahim Hazim visited his ranch in late 2019 to purchase buffaloes, Ramaphosa argued in his defense, according to the report. Hazim said he paid in cash, while sales at auctions are usually done electronically for security reasons. The manager of the farm said he first put the money in a safe, but decided to put the amount in the bank cushions because, according to him, the staff had access to the safe.

The fact that Hazim did not take the buffaloes after purchase and that they are still roaming the farm two and a half years later does not add credibility to Ramaphosa’s story, according to the report. Ramaphosa insists he did nothing wrong.

Cyril Ramaphosa was the ANC’s chief negotiator in talks leading to the end of apartheid, after which Nelson Mandela was elected in 1994 to become South Africa’s first black president. He then retired from politics and amassed a fortune, especially in mining. In 2012 he regained a high position in the ANC, in which he still had great prestige. In 2014 he became vice president and five years ago he took over from Jacob Zuma, who resigned after allegations of large-scale corruption. Ramaphosa then vowed to root out corruption in government institutions.

Impeachment procedure

On Tuesday, parliament will debate and vote on an impeachment procedure. The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party has announced that it will submit a proposal for an early election. The ANC has a large majority in parliament, but internally the party is strongly divided. The question is how many party members will continue to support him. Opposition parties and critics in the ANC have already called for his resignation. Ramaphosa said three weeks ago that he “please step aside” would do if found guilty, but he now appears to be refraining from doing so.

The fuss over the theft is not the first controversy surrounding Phala Phala. In November 2020, animal rights organization PETA accused Ramaphosa of having ties to the trophy huntwhere wild animals are bred specifically to be killed by wealthy tourists to hang the stuffed heads on the wall as trophies.

Anton De Swardt’s farm is twenty minutes from Phala Phala. He has known the president for years and also breeds African buffalo and the special Ankole cattle on his 700 hectares. De Swardt’s farm is full of dozens of hunting trophies. A leopard skin is spread over a table in the living room. Two elephant tusks encase the mirror next to it. De Swardt purchased his first Ankole cow from Ramaphosa, who is the president of the Ankole Cattle Breeders Society.

De Swardt articulates a common argument from wildlife breeders: “Hunting is crucial for the conservation of wildlife,” says De Swardt, petting one of his cows. “It is better that we keep an eye on the animals, feed them and occasionally sell them to a hunter,” he says as he drives across his land in an open safari vehicle, “than that they are shot in the wild by poachers .” A lot of money can be made with that sale, De Swardt acknowledges. It is therefore not inconceivable that the cash found does indeed come from those transactions. But why he did not declare that money and did not report the theft remains unclear.

Read also: Jacob Zuma perished from his own gluttony

Ramaphosa’s arrival led to a sigh of relief among many South Africans. His role in the fight against apartheid, his good relationship with national icon Nelson Mandela, and his promise to eradicate corruption, revived hope that the governing party ANC could reinvent itself. But the once beloved freedom fighter is now in danger of being wiped out by his business interests.