Publications
Partners
Newly appointed national police commissioner Fannie Masemola and his predecessor, Khehla Sitole, have been drawn into the mire surrounding a secretive and off-the-books police investigation into the burglary at President Cyril Ramaphosa's Phala Phala farm two years ago.
News24 can reveal that in the days after the theft of the cash – believed to have been hidden in furniture in the upmarket lodge's main farmhouse – top brass in the Crime Intelligence (CI) Division were tasked with the backchannel tracing of the loot and those who stole it.
Two sources with direct knowledge of the incident said Presidential Protection Unit head Wally Rhoode called on then CI boss Peter Jacobs for manpower and resources to probe the dollar heist, which was seemingly never formally reported. This secretive approach, seemingly outside of conventional investigative methods, has added to the murk surrounding the cash and its source.
