‘I’m very afraid’: Phala Phala thief offers R500,000 fine

Ask AI 4minImanuwela David says he is afraid of the sentence he faces over the Phala Phala farm theft but has accepted the court’s decision, appealing for leniency and claiming he could raise R500,000 to pay a fine.

Imanuwela David, convicted in connection with the theft of US$580,000 from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm, says he is afraid of the sentence he faces in the case and asked the Modimolle Regional Court for leniency, saying he could raise R500,000 if ordered to pay a fine.

David made the request during pre-sentencing proceedings on Friday, November 13. 

He told the court he was afraid of the sentence but had accepted that the magistrate would make the final decision.

Asked by his advocate, Koena Matlala, how he felt about facing sentencing, David said the case had affected him emotionally, mentally and physically.

“I am very afraid, but emotionally, I am very happy. Mentally and physically, I am also affected. However, I have come to accept whatever the court’s decision will be, and let it be the way it is,” he said.

David continued to deny committing the offences, saying he did not want to comment further because it could appear that he was defending himself.

“I have always been saying that I have no idea and I don’t know anything concerning these issues. Therefore, if I comment now or say something, it will look as if I am defending myself,” he said.

David told the court he had been in contact with his family. 

He said he had four children and asked the court to consider his responsibilities towards them.

He has been in custody for three years. He told the court he was unemployed when arrested.

“I am pleased that the court can be lenient in terms of the judgment they will pass on me. As a dedicated caregiver, I think they will be lenient enough to give me a lesser sentence,” he said.

When asked whether he could afford a R1 million fine, David said he would be able to raise R500,000. He said he would have to make phone calls and consult others to raise the money, despite being unemployed.

He said he understood the seriousness of the offences but maintained that he could not take responsibility for crimes he insisted he had not committed.

Former Phala Phala worker Froliana Joseph, who was also convicted, appeared in court for pre-sentencing proceedings. 

Her lawyer, advocate Relleng Masipa, applied for a correctional supervision report and requested a postponement.

State advocate Nkhetheni Munyai did not oppose the application. 

Regional magistrate Peter Manthata granted it, saying he could not reject the request.

The matter was postponed to November 24 for further sentencing proceedings and sentence.

David was convicted of conspiracy to commit housebreaking with intent to steal, housebreaking with intent to steal, theft and money laundering. Joseph was convicted of conspiracy to commit housebreaking with intent to steal.

The convictions followed a trial into the February 2020 break-in at the president’s farm and the movement of large sums of money through David’s bank accounts.

In his judgment, Manthata criticised the investigation, noting that there were no fingerprints or usable video footage identifying those responsible for breaking into the president’s house.

“This is a clear indication that the investigations of this case were poorly done,” he said, questioning why the case had only been opened two years after the theft.

Manthata found that cellphone records linked Joseph and David through communications before and after the break-in. Joseph was a temporary worker at the farm.

A key part of the judgment concerned David’s purchases of vehicles and other assets, as well as deposits into his bank accounts.

Manthata accepted evidence from a car salesman who said David visited a Benoni dealership on February 10, 2020, looking for a Volkswagen Golf 7 and produced three packs of US dollars.

David claimed he had bought vehicles on behalf of a businessman, John Pedro, who allegedly traded between Angola and Namibia. 

Manthata rejected the explanation, noting that none of the vehicles had been exported and saying the supposed businessman may have been fictitious.

The state’s financial evidence showed that more than R9.5m was deposited into David’s accounts between February 3, 2020, and May 31, 2022. 

Manthata rejected his explanations that the money came from assisting businessmen, delivering mercury, a friendship with a diamond dealer and Bitcoin trading.

The theft became public in June 2022, when former State Security Agency head Arthur Fraser laid a criminal complaint against Ramaphosa, alleging that he had concealed the theft of US dollars hidden in a couch at the farm.

Ramaphosa has maintained that the US$580,000 was payment from a Sudanese businessman for 20 buffaloes.

The court heard evidence that the buyer paid the farm’s former acting manager in cash on December 25, 2019. 

The manager later moved the money from a safe to a sofa in the president’s house because too many people had access to the safe.