President Cyril Ramaphosa.
- SARS extended the period in which it will inform DA leader John Steenhuisen if it will grant his request for its records on the Sudanese businessman who paid for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s buffaloes.
- SARS informed Steenhuisen that it had not completed the “necessary consultations” on its request and postponed a response for 30 days.
- Ramaphosa told the Public Protector that a businessman, later identified as Hazim Mustafa, paid $580,000 for a Phala Phala buffalo, which is the cash that was later stolen.
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has postponed telling DA leader John Steenhuisen whether to provide him with the US dollar statement of the Sudanese businessman who bought game from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm.
SARS extends the deadline to respond to the request by 30 days.
Steenhuisen filed a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application, requesting the records on December 7. On Friday she received a reply from SARS Deputy Information Officer Siyabonga Nkabinde.
“Please note that due to necessary consultations not yet concluded with various divisions within SARS, consideration of your application has not been completed as contemplated by Section 25(1) of the PAIA,” the letter reads.
“For the aforementioned reason, SARS hereby in terms of Section 26 (1) (c) of PAIA extends the period to respond to your request for a period not to exceed 30 (thirty) days.”
Steenhuisen is further informed that he has 180 days to file an appeal if he is harmed by this decision.
PAIA requires the entity that has received a request for information to inform the person who made the request within 30 days if it is granted.
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However, the law allows the information officer to extend this period for another 30 days if certain conditions are met, including “consultation between divisions of the public entity or with another public entity is necessary or desirable in deciding on the request that cannot reasonably be completed within the original period”.
Phala Phala became a hot topic in June after former director general of the State Security Agency and former correctional services commissioner, Arthur Fraser, opened a kidnapping and money laundering case against Ramaphosa, the head of the Presidential Protection Unit, Maj. Gen. Wally Rhoode, and Members of Crime Intelligence for allegedly concealing a robbery at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in February 2020.
According to Fraser’s affidavit, Ramaphosa had at least $4 million in cash hidden in a couch at his game farm, and later participated in a cover-up following an allegedly illegal investigation into the matter.
DA leader John Steenhuisen.
The Public Protector recently announced that it has concluded its investigation into Phala Phala, but the report has yet to be published as it is undergoing quality checks.
READ | Phala Phala: Mysterious Sudanese businessman paid $580,000 to Ramaphosa’s pawn 45 days before the robbery
In his submission to the Public Protector, Ramaphosa revealed that the cash came from Sudanese businessman Hazim Mustafa, who paid $580,000 for a buffalo from Ramaphosa’s farm. Customs regulations would have required Mustafa to declare the money when he arrived in South Africa.
An independent panel appointed by Parliament found that Ramaphosa had a prima facie case to answer. On December 13, three days before the ANC’s national elective conference, the party rejected the report in the National Assembly, meaning Ramaphosa survived impeachment.
