- The DA compared Cyril Ramaphosa to Jacob Zuma, saying he has "abused" the courts.
- A legal specialist said there was no record that Hazim Mustafa declared the money paid to Ramaphosa's farm.
- John Steenhuisen vowed to pursue the matter "until the truth is finally out".
The DA slammed President Cyril Ramaphosa after the South African Revenue Service (SARS) revealed there was no record that Sudanese businessman Hazim Mustafa declared the $580 000 in cash paid to the president's Phala Phala farm.
In a statement on Tuesday, the DA's leader, John Steenhuisen, called for Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka to probe deeper into the Phala Phala scandal after SARS disclosed new information with regard to the case.
The DA wrote to Gcaleka to submit an affidavit after SARS responded to Steenhuisen's Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) request.
The Office of the Public Protector is yet to release a report on the Phala Phala investigation following a complaint laid by the African Transformation Movement.
Steenhuisen filed his PAIA form in December 2022 after Mustafa produced a document, during a Sky News interview, claiming to be proof that he declared the money.
In the document released by SARS, an affidavit compiled by legal specialist Siyabonga Nkabinde was included.
The affidavit revealed there was no knowledge or evidence that the dollars brought into the country, via OR Tambo Airport by Mustafa, were declared.
Steenhuisen promised to resolve the Phala Phala scandal, in the people's interest, and to pursue it "until the truth is finally out".
"The multifaceted nature of the theft and subsequent cover-up of the theft at Phala Phala also gives credence to the DA's call for an ad hoc committee in the National Assembly to fully unpack and investigate the matter."
I have written to the Acting Public Protector, Adv Kholeka Gcaleka, to request that her investigation into allegations against the President be finalised urgently and to include the response from SARS that the US dollars hidden inside Ramaphosa's couch were not declared. pic.twitter.com/fWQwOlB7b0
— John Steenhuisen MP (@jsteenhuisen) March 7, 2023
He added that state-owned entities and ministries were deeply entangled in covering up "seemingly illicit activity at the hands of our sitting president and the ANC".
Steenhuisen said: "President Ramaphosa has followed the example of his predecessor by abusing the courts to have the damning Section 89 report overturned and evading any and all mechanisms for parliamentary accountability."
Opposition parties also accused Ramaphosa of tax evasion, and that did not have the country's interests in mind.