The South African Revenue Service (Sars) has opened a criminal case against Phala Phala buffalo buyer Hazim Mustafa, who President Cyril Ramaphosa told various investigators handed $580 000 in cash to his farm manager in December 2019.

According to Ramaphosa, it was Mustafa's money, paid to secure 20 buffalo, that was stolen from his farm near Bela Bela in Limpopo in February 2020.

The theft paved the way for a major scandal that, since emerging in June 2022, has dominated headlines and led the president to the brink of resigning from office.

Sars registered the case at the Brooklyn police station in April 2023, and the subsequent investigation has been kept under wraps due to the secrecy provisions under which the tax authority conducts its affairs.

A Sars spokesperson told News24 that it was prohibited by law from disclosing confidential taxpayer information, "including any investigations involving taxpayers".

The docket has since been transferred to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, or the Hawks.

A spokesperson for the Hawks, Brigadier Thandi Mbambo, confirmed the investigation and that Sars was the complainant, but said no further details could be disclosed as the probe was ongoing.

News24 has established that the case centres around a document that Mustafa, a Sudanese national, provided to the police and Sars upon request.

He claimed the document was a copy of the declaration of foreign currency he completed at OR Tambo International Airport on 23 December 2019 when he arrived from his country of residence, Dubai.

Mustafa first showed the document to SkyNews reporters, but did not hand over a copy. The document is believed to be potentially fraudulent, but the details of why Sars officials believe so are unknown.

Mustafa, reached by phone last week, said he was not aware of the case Sars had brought against him and had not been informed of any police investigation linked to the documents he provided.

"My documents are 100% correct," he said.

He also did not provide a copy of the document to News24 when asked.

Previously, in response to a Promotion of Access to Information Act request filed by DA leader John Steenhuisen in December 2022, Sars said it could find no record of the declaration filed by Mustafa.

Failure to declare foreign currency is an offence under the country's tax laws.  

"It is not for the president to comment on an active Sars investigation," Ramaphosa's spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, said.

He referred News24 to a statement issued by Sars in March 2023 that declared Ramaphosa and his company were tax compliant.

Speculation

The revelation is likely to fuel further intense speculation over the source of money stolen from Phala Phala and the actual amount taken.

News24 has previously reported that one of the burglary suspects, Imanuwela David - who was arrested by the Hawks in November last year - spent at least R10-million on cars alone in the aftermath of the theft.

He was denied bail. 

A former cleaner at Phala Phala, Froliana Joseph, and her brother, Ndlilinasho Joseph (also called David), were arrested and subsequently granted bail. Two other suspects, believed to be in Namibia, are still at large.

At the average December 2019 exchange rate, the $580 000 was worth around R8.3-million.

In an undated and incomplete audio recording, David is heard telling as yet unnamed individuals that they took $800 000 (R11.5-million) in the burglary, and that he had kept three plastic-wrapped bundles of $100 000 each (total R4.3-million) for himself.

During a failed bail application in December, the Bela Bela Magistrate's Court heard evidence from Hawks investigating officer Lieutenant-Colonel Ludi Schnelle. It revealed how David had told them several versions of where he lived, and that the State openly questioned David's honesty.

In addition to David spending roughly R10-million on cars, he purchased diamond-studded mouth jewellery worth R250 000, Rolex and Hublot watches, and property. He also gave a driver $30 000 (R430 000) to take him from Rustenburg to Kempton Park on the night of the burglary.

His alleged accomplices splurged on cars and a R1.8-million property in Blouberg Strand, News24 previously revealed.

The cumulative effect of the expenditure by the apparent burglars in the immediate aftermath of the theft in February 2020 has cast doubt on the smaller amount Ramaphosa has maintained was taken.

The burglary only came to light in June 2022, when the former director-general of the State Security Agency, Arthur Fraser, lodged a complaint with police alleging a cover-up by Ramaphosa and his head of security, Major-General Wally Rhoode.

Fraser alleged an amount between $4-million and $8-million (R57-million to R115-million) had been taken.

The burglary was never officially reported to police, and a case number was never generated.

Ramaphosa maintains that informing Rhoode of the matter was sufficient, and it that was not within his control that Rhoode never had a docket opened.

Ramaphosa has faced intense criticism over the presence of such a large amount of foreign currency at his farm.

The president is known to be a farmer and his buffalo have, in the past, fetched substantial sums of money at public auctions.

His version is that Mustafa arrived at his farm on 25 December 2019, and after inspecting buffalo he had agreed with his farm manager, Hendrik von Wielligh, should be sold to cut down on vet and feeding bills, handed $580 000 (roughly R8-million and R400 000 for the 20 buffalo at the time) to Sylvester Ndlovu, another farm manager, who was looking after the farm while Von Wielligh was on leave.

Mustafa had arrived two days before and then travelled to the Sun City resort.

While at a party there, he was told of the buffalo for sale, and claims he travelled two hours by road, by either car or limousine, to Phala Phala.

He left the country again on 27 December.

Mustafa is married to a South African, Bianca O'Donoghue, who hails from Westville, Durban.

She was in the country over that December, according to social media posts.

Years later, the buffalo had never left the farm, with Ramaphosa saying in statements to the SARB that his staff had waited for further instructions from Mustafa before proceeding with blood tests and other regulatory requirements to export the game.

Ramaphosa said Covid-19 lockdowns contributed to some delays.

Mustafa told News24 that he wanted reimbursement from Phala Phala, including interest, failing which he was mulling legal action to recover his money.

Ramaphosa has maintained this version in responding to several investigations, including by Sars, the South African Reserve Bank, the Public Protector and an independent parliamentary panel headed by retired chief justice Sandile Ngcobo.

With the exception of the Ngcobo panel, each investigation cleared the president.

News24 reported that Ramaphosa was close to resigning shortly after the report was made public.

He was convinced to remain in office, and the ANC used its majority in the National Assembly to vote against adopting the report.

But the Ncgobo panel also questioned the actual amount taken, leaving doubt that the whole truth had been told.

"We are left to speculate about how much was stolen. Given the lapse of time since the theft occurred, by now it should have been established whether the whole amount was stolen or whether some of it was stolen," the report said, concluding that Ramaphosa had a case to answer for not only the presence of the foreign currency, but also the transaction with Mustafa.

Ramaphosa attempted to have the Constitutional Court set aside the Ngcobo panel report, but the court declined to hear the application, saying he should approach a high court.

To date, Ramaphosa has not done so.