The Public Protector has whitewashed Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala scandal
30 June 2023
Acting Public Protector, Adv Koleka Gcaleka’s report on allegations of a violation of the Executive Members Ethics Act by President Cyril Ramaphosa pertaining to a theft at his farm at Phala Phala delivered earlier today, was nothing more than a whitewash of the entire sordid Phala Phala scandal.
Given that Adv Gcaleka is vying for the top job within the Office of the Public Protector, her report today read more like a job interview than a concluded investigation.
By burying the merits of this investigation in legal jargon and semantics, and contorting the law in her interpretation of both the Executive Members Ethics Act and the Constitution, she has attempted to paint President Cyril Ramaphosa as nothing more than an innocent bystander to the Phala Phala scandal, oblivious to the workings of the Presidential Protection Services, his responsibilities as the head of South Africa’s national executive, and his duty as the first citizen of the nation.
This report could only be described as a pro-Ramaphosa public relations exercise.