An employee at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Limpopo game farm, where $580,000 (about R10m) was stolen in February 2020, has admitted to stashing the cash under the couch for safekeeping.
“I was afraid to leave it there [in the safe] because if it disappeared, I would be in trouble,” he said.
The employee, who cannot be named in terms of a court order, confirmed he was employed as an acting lodge manager at Phala Phala farm.
Imanuwela David and siblings Froliana and Ndilinasho Joseph, who are facing charges of conspiracy to commit housebreaking with intent to steal and theft, two counts of housebreaking with intent to steal and theft and, in David’s case, an additional charge of money laundering, have pleaded not guilty in the Modimolle regional court.
On Monday, the farm employee, who is the first state witness, told the court he had received the $580,000 from a client on December 25 2019 as payment for 20 buffaloes he sold from the farm.
The acting general manager said the client had picked 17 female buffaloes and three male buffaloes, each costing R400,000 and totalling R8m.
He said the man told him he wanted to pay in cash as he had $580,000 in cash on him.
Though surprised, as clients usually do transactions through the bank, he said he checked the exchange rate and proceeded to take the money, which at the time totalled R8m in South African currency.
“I explained to him that I am not going to give him an invoice, what I would do is to write a receipt of acknowledgment that I had received the money,” he said.
He said the general manager was not around at the time of the transaction, and he placed the money in the safe after handing the client an acknowledgment of receipt.
The next day, on December 26, Ramaphosa, who was coming from his other farm in Mpumalanga and heading to Cape Town for a holiday, passed by Phala Phala farm.
“I then explained to him everything that had happened and he told me he is going on a holiday and we will deal with money when the general manager is back. Ramaphosa said he would explain to the general manager about the money because there wasn't any decision taken on whether we were going to take the money — we were still going to talk about it,” he said.
The employee testified that when he went on leave on December 30, he couldn't leave the money in the safe as he deemed it unsafe because everyone had access to the documents and keys were kept there.
He took the money to the main house, which is used by Ramaphosa, as it had cameras.
Inside the house, in a spare bedroom, he said he removed the cushions of a couch, lining the money on top and stashing the cushions back on top of the money.
To further conceal the money, he placed Ramaphosa's golf bags on the couch. He confirmed he was alone at the time and locked up before leaving. He told the court that before stashing the money in the couch he had explained his reasons for doing so to Ramaphosa.
When he went on leave, the general manager was not yet back. When he returned from leave on January 13, 2020, the money was still there when he checked.
On February 10, while at a sister farm of Phala Phala, he received a call from a housekeeper from the main house asking him to come urgently. When he got to the house, he was shown the sliding door, which was open, and the open curtains, which prompted him to start inspecting the place.
He said he found a window open with a scratch mark and a broken handle. He also found that some cameras had been moved while some were broken. When he went into the room where he had stashed the money, he discovered it was no longer there, he said.
“I was afraid because it was a lot of money. I called Mr Ramaphosa, he was not in the country at the time. I told him the news. He told me that he would send his head of bodyguards.”
After the call he said he had also called the general manager, showing him what had happened, however, he did not tell him about the missing money.
He said Ramaphosa's head of guards came after some days.
The trial continues.
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