Former State Security Agency (SSA) Director-General Arthur Fraser has opened a criminal case against President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Rosebank Police Station in Johannesburg.
In a statement dated 1 June 2022 widely shared on social media, Fraser accused Ramaphosa of breaching the Prevention of Organised Crime Act and the Prevention of Corrupt Activities Act.
Arthur Fraser lays charges against Ramaphosa
“The details of the charges and the supporting evidence, including photographs, bank accounts, video footage and names are contained in my statement filed with the Rosebank Police Station,” he said.
“The charges emanate from the theft of millions of US dollars (in excess of four million US dollars) concealed within the premises of the President’s Phala Phala farm in Waterberg, Limpopo, by criminals who were colluding with his domestic worker.
“They also include defeating the ends of justice, kidnapping of suspects, their interrogation on his property and bribery. The President concealed the crime from the South African Police Service and/or South African Revenue Service (SARS) and thereafter paid the culprits for their silence.”
The former spy boss said his “evidence” shows that the alleged burglary at Ramaphosa’s farm took place on 9 February 2020. A subsequent SAPS statement confirmed that he had opened the case, adding that “due processes will follow.”
“I trust that the police and the prosecuting authorities will investigate this matter without fear or favour. I also trust that the President will take the nation into his confidence and accept or deny that the events I describe in my affidavit occurred on his property,” Fraser added.
‘Secrets’
This is not the first time Fraser has sought to implicate Ramaphosa in wrongdoing. During a session at the state capture commission of inquiry in July 2020, his attorney at the time, Muzi Sikhakhane, said Fraser wanted to reveal “secrets” about South Africa’s “past and present” Presidents.
According to Sikhakhane, Fraser wanted to testify about “things that relate to the President, or the Presidents of this country, past and present, and related to the judges, that relates to the parliamentarians.”
In the same year, Fraser also wrote to then SSA Acting Director-General Loyiso Jafta asking for declassification of 41 documents, including the one on Ramaphosa.
His letter, which was leaked on social media, claimed the file on Ramaphosa contains “his business, political and personal activities and associates.”
In 2018, the then SSA boss was transferred by Ramaphosa to the Department of Correctional Services, from where he retired last year shortly after controversially authorising former President Jacob Zuma’s medical parole.