Former ANC spokesperson and NEC member Carl Niehaus along with other members of the governing party has opened his own case of money laundering and kidnapping against President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Siyabonga Sithole
FORMER ANC spokesperson and NEC member Carl Niehaus along with other members of the governing party has opened his own case of money laundering and kidnapping against President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Niehaus on Monday said this new case was in support of an already existing complaint against Ramaphosa which was laid by former director-general of the State Security Agency Arthur Fraser at the Rosebank Police Station early this month.
“This action of laying charges echoing and in supporting the charges that Mr Arthur Fraser had laid is in line with the overall campaign to ensure that President Ramaphosa will be held accountable for his criminal actions and to support a nationwide campaign that Ramaphosa must resign as ANC president as well as South African president,” Niehaus said.
He said that this complaint against the president would soon become a nationwide phenomenon as they would encourage other South Africans across the country to open similar complaints against Ramaphosa.
“I must say the police were very helpful and friendly when we went in to the Rosebank police station. We were successful in opening our case, which the police said they will attach to the existing case by Arthur Fraser. Those charges we laid will then support those by Mr Fraser.
“I was not alone when we opened our own case as we want to encourage other members of the ANC to go out and open their own supporting cases in order to make sure that the president is held accountable to the crimes he has committed. These are serious allegations against the president. Ours is to make sure that everyone is treated equally before the law and that the police must do their job,” Niehaus told this newspaper.
This new case comes just as the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) has confirmed that it has appointed a group of senior investigators to the case against the president following Fraser’s original complaint, which was opened on June 1, also at the Rosebank police station.
Two weeks ago, Fraser reported that he had laid a complaint against the president following a robbery at his Phala Phala farm in Limpopo, where robbers had stolen more than US$4 million from his farm on February 9, 2020.
In his affidavit lodged with the Rosebank police station, Fraser accused Ramaphosa of kidnapping and bribery, alleging that the president had concealed the robbery and briefed the same robbers to keep the incident away from the public.
Police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said she was in a meeting and therefore could not provide comment about the new case opened by the MKMVA national spokesperson.
However, Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Thandi Mbambo confirmed that the initial case by Fraser was being investigated by a group of experienced investigators but not much could be revealed as it was still in its early stages of investigation.
“It’s still early stage, but what we can confirm is that the National Head has appointed senior experienced investigators to deal with this matter. Not much info can be provided though as investigation is still at its preliminary stage,” Mbambo said.
Fraser also claimed that Ramaphosa’s conduct was in breach of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, while in her letter to the president, suspended Public Protector advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane had indicated that she was investigating Ramaphosa over his breach of the executive ethics code.
Since then, the president has been under fire to explain himself over the robbery amid calls for him to step down, while ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe said it was premature for the president to stand down before being formally charged.
“Our view has always been simple. As things stand, the president has not been charged. The policy of the ANC around stepping aside has got to do with a person who has been indicted to appear in the court of law and charged with serious crimes.
“It is not in the policies of the ANC that allegations alone would qualify for a person to step aside. They may do so when they have been criminally charged, and as matters stand, the president has not been criminally charged. So it is premature to raise the issue of him stepping aside,” Mabe told Umhlobo Wenene on Sunday.
Ramaphosa has refused to respond to the allegations, saying the matter is in the hands of the police and commenting on the issues would interfere with these processes.
On Friday, Ramaphosa told Parliament following his budget vote on Thursday that he will not discuss the details of the farmgate scandal, citing legal processes currently under way.
“The robbery that took place on my farm in Phala Phala in 2020 is a subject of a criminal complaint that must take its course. In other words, the process has to be followed,” Ramaphosa said.
