Three suspects appeared in a South African court on Monday, accused of stealing millions of dollars in cash from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s game farm, an affair that almost toppled his presidency two years ago. The accused—Imanuwela David, Ndilinasho Joseph, and Froliana Joseph—face charges of housebreaking and theft.

Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in Limpopo, announced that the high-profile case linked to the theft at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm has been postponed. "The matter involving conspiracy to commit housebreaking with intent to steal, housebreaking, and money laundering is now set for a pre-trial conference on November 26, 2024, at the Modimolle Regional Court," said Malabi-Dzhangi.

The case, initially delayed until October 7, centres on the alleged mastermind of the February 2020 multi-million rand heist, Imanuwela David, who appeared in court alongside co-accused Floriana Joseph and Ndilinasho Joseph.

Previously, proceedings were postponed to allow for the disclosure of the case docket and to secure an interpreter fluent in Oshiwambo, the native language of some of the accused. As the legal process drags on, it underscores the complexity of a case that continues to attract significant public attention, given its implications for the highest office in the land.

The scandal erupted when South Africa’s former spy chief, Arthur Fraser, reported the theft to police in June 2022, accusing Ramaphosa of money laundering, corruption, and covering up the incident. Fraser alleged that large sums of foreign currency were stolen from the president’s Phala Phala game farm in 2020, when his domestic worker alerted conspirators to US$4mil stuffed into his furniture.

After the theft, Ramaphosa scrambled to intervene and prevent the crime entering the official record, by collaborating with the late Namibian President Geingob, using Namibian and South African security service employees to kidnap the suspects from the jail cell where they were being held before the charges could enter the public record.

Ramaphosa insisted that the cash, undeclared to the revenue services, was for an unrealised stock trade.

Arthur Fraser, an RET faction loyalist and senior intelligence officer, sat on the evidence since 2019, and then suddenly decided it was time to drop the bomb, just in time for a planned national shutdown by RET allies in the EFF, which failed, and is now a generally forgotten detail.

Recently, Helen Zille confirmed that the DA will not be taking any political actions against the President for his involvement in the scandal until after a full political inquiry, which could take several years, and which species of procedure has never resulted in the arrest of any senior official.

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