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Probe into my 'prior knowledge' of Phala Phala theft a fishing expedition, says Zizi Kodwa

Deputy state security minster Zizi Kodwa. File photo.
Deputy state security minster Zizi Kodwa. File photo.
Image: Sunday Times/Masi Losi

Deputy state security minister Zizi Kodwa believes the investigation into his alleged role in the Phala Phala farm heist is merely a “fishing expedition”.

Parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence (JSCI) is set to probe allegations that Kodwa knew about the robbery at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s farm in February 2020 but kept it secret “rather than reporting it to appropriate authorities”.

The committee will also investigate allegations that secret crime intelligence funds were used to covertly investigate the robbery in which it's alleged millions in foreign currency were stolen.

This is made-up gossip, deliberate diversion, pure fabrication and baseless. I have no prior knowledge of the alleged theft at Phala Phala until when it was reported in the media
Zizi Kodwa, deputy state security minister 

“It has also been alleged that Kodwa accompanied Maj-Gen Wally Rhoode, head of the presidential protection unit, during secret interactions between SA and Namibian authorities,” National Assembly speaker Mapisa-Nqakula said in a letter to JSCI chair Jerome Maake last Friday.

Kodwa told SowetanLIVE's sister publication TimesLIVE on Friday that he found out about the robbery when it was reported in the media this year.

“This is made-up gossip, deliberate diversion, pure fabrication and baseless. I have no prior knowledge of the alleged theft at Phala Phala until when it was reported in the media.”

He said this was what he would tell the JSCI when he appeared before it.

“I welcome the investigation by the intelligence committee as I already responded to them with the same answers. This is a fishing expedition.”

Former spy boss Arthur Fraser alleged in June that at least $4m (about R65m) was stolen from Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in Limpopo in February 2020.

He further alleged that Ramaphosa failed to report the robbery and instead unleashed Rhoode to investigate and cover it up by, among others, interrogating and paying off the alleged robbers. 

The allegations threaten Ramaphosa’s effort to secure a second term as ANC president when the party holds its conference in December.

Should the allegations be true, Mapisa-Nqakula said, they would “constitute a flagrant abuse of  taxpayers' money”.

SowetanLIVE's sister publication Sunday Times reported at the weekend that it took Ramaphosa almost a month to inform Rhoode that money had been stolen in the robbery.

Rhoode, in a statement to the public protector, said though Ramaphosa had informed him of the robbery the day after it happened, he only revealed to him that money had been stolen a month later.

TimesLIVE


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