Parliament to allegedly probe claims of Zizi Kodwa cover-up in Phala Phala
Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI) has been told to investigate whether Deputy State Security Minister Zizi Kodwa was involved in a cover up of the robbery that took place at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm.
The committee will also look into claims that secret police intelligence funds were used to investigate a burglary at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Limpopo farm in February 2020, reports a local publication.
JSCI meetings are usually done behind closed doors, which means the public and media do not get access to them.
This was one of the concerns Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen raised earlier this week, after National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula referred the Section 89 motion to an independent panel.
He said his party believed an ad hoc committee would have been better to get the evidence needed to investigate the Phala Phala matter.
“We believe that an ad hoc committee would have provided the required evidence for this Section 89 inquiry,” he said.
Zizi Kodwa
The JSCI will investigate whether Kodwa was one of the senior government officials alleged to be involved in trying to keep the Phala Phala robbery under wraps.
Kodwa has denied knowing about the robbery, saying the claims are “pure fabrication”.
“This is pure fabrication and a fishing expedition; it’s desperation to give life to a non-story. The last night I went to Namibia I was working for [former president Jacob] Zuma. They are lying,” Kodwa told City Press.
‘Major subterfuge’
Steenhuisen earlier this week said it was “major subterfuge” for Mapisa-Nqakula to allow the African Transformation Movement’s (ATM) request for a Section 89 inquiry to be established against Ramaphosa.
He said the lack of evidence presented to the committee will make it seem like Parliament is investigating the Phala Phala robbery, without holding Ramaphosa and senior government officials to account.
“At this stage, the allegations remain untested and the facts are not definitive,” he said.
“It would have made much more sense for the ad hoc to do the initial work and then for the outcome of this to provide any prima facie evidence or otherwise.
“I repeat, this is why the speaker has chosen this route. She obviously knows that the panelists will revert to saying there is no solid prima facie evidence at this stage.
“So, in a sense, it’s a major subterfuge to appear to be doing something, while protecting the president’s interests.”
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