President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office says the motive and timing of former State Security Agency head Arthur Fraser’s criminal case against him needs to be questioned.
The Presidency confirmed on Thursday that a robbery occurred on Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in Limpopo in February 2020 but denied wrongdoing on his part.
Instead, the Presidency raised suspicion as to why Fraser went public about the robbery two years after it occurred.
Fraser has opened a criminal case against the president, claiming that he had concealed a criminal incident.
The president’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said that Fraser’s credibility and reasons for opening a criminal case against the president should be interrogated because he had ample opportunity to ascertain facts directly from the president.
The Presidency said that while it could not detail the exact amount that was stolen, the US$4 million detailed by Fraser was an exaggeration.
Magwenya said that while Ramaphosa reported the incident to the police, he didn’t want to make a public spectacle about it because he wanted to avoid panic and anxiety within the farming community.