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A South African court has found Imanuwela David guilty of stealing more than $580,000 in cash from Phala Phala, the Limpopo cattle farm owned by President Cyril Ramaphosa, in a case that set off a prolonged impeachment saga against the head of state.
The verdict, delivered on Monday, covered theft as well as conspiracy to commit housebreaking with intent to steal. Froliana Joseph, a cleaner employed at the property, was simultaneously found guilty of conspiracy to commit housebreaking with intent to steal. Her brother, Ndilinasho Joseph, was acquitted on all charges.
According to the court’s findings, David broke into the farm in February 2020 and removed the cash — hidden inside a sofa on the property — before embarking on an extensive spending spree. Purchases included three Mercedes-Benz vehicles, one of which he bought for his girlfriend, a Porsche, two Volkswagens, diamond-encrusted Rolex watches and a house. David told the court he had accumulated the money through businesses involving diamonds and Bitcoin. The court rejected those claims and noted that David was the only one of the two convicted defendants whose bank account contained any of the stolen funds. Pre-sentencing proceedings are scheduled for 13 November.
How a hidden theft became a constitutional crisis
The burglary remained largely unknown for nearly two years. It came to public attention in 2022 when Arthur Fraser, South Africa’s former intelligence chief and a political ally of former president Jacob Zuma, alleged that Ramaphosa had concealed the theft from both police and tax authorities. Ramaphosa acknowledged that the theft had occurred but denied any wrongdoing.
An independent panel convened that same year concluded that Ramaphosa could have questions to answer over the incident. Parliament subsequently voted against establishing a formal impeachment inquiry. The matter did not rest there: in May of this year, the Constitutional Court ruled that parliament had acted unlawfully by shelving the panel’s report. In July, Ramaphosa moved to block a parliamentary inquiry through a provincial court, extending a legal and political dispute that has shadowed his presidency for more than three years.
The conviction of David and Froliana Joseph marks the first definitive judicial outcome in the criminal dimension of what has become known as the Farmgate scandal, though the broader political and constitutional questions surrounding the president’s handling of the original theft remain unresolved.