Lawyers for President Cyril Ramaphosa have dismissed allegations made by former State Security Agency (SSA) head Arthur Fraser regarding a break-in at the president’s Phala Phala farm, calling them “baseless speculation.” The allegations, first revealed in a formal complaint by Fraser in June 2022, accuse the president of attempting to cover up a 2020 robbery involving large sums of cash.
Ramaphosa’s legal team issued a statement late Monday, where they described Fraser’s accusations as “akin to something out of a movie,” asserting that the allegations were unsubstantiated and lacked credible evidence. “There is no truth to these allegations. They are not based on fact but on unfounded assertions intended to damage the reputation of the president,” one of Ramaphosa’s attorneys stated.
In his initial complaint to police and the Public Protector’s office, Fraser claimed that the president failed to report the theft of millions of dollars from his Phala Phala farm in Limpopo. According to Fraser, Ramaphosa arranged for hush money to be paid to the robbers and allegedly used his position to conceal the incident.
Ramaphosa’s legal team countered these claims by emphasizing that there has been no formal investigation into the incident and no charges filed against the president or anyone associated with the farm. They argued that Fraser’s accusations serve to harm Ramaphosa’s image without providing factual basis, a move they say only fuels political controversy.