Ramaphosa's protection unit head Rhoode off the hook for probing Phala Phala matter - Cachalia

CAPE TOWN - The police minister has clarified to Parliament that the head of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s protection unit, Major-General Wally Rhoode, is off the hook on the public protector’s findings that he breached the SAPS disciplinary code by investigating the Phala Phala matter.

Minister Firoz Cachalia said a police hearing found Rhoode not guilty of allegedly conducting an illegal, cross-border probe into the 2020 robbery on the president’s Limpopo farm.

He was responding to a written question from the African Transformation Movement (ATM), which was one of the complainants to the public protector in respect of the police’s handling of the burglary in which more than half a million US dollars were stolen.

After months of delays, the trial of three suspects charged with that theft finally got underway in the Modimolle Regional Court on Monday.

In 2023, the public protector gave the police 60 days to discipline Rhoode in terms of the SAPS disciplinary regulations following evidence that he had used state resources to chase after suspects and the stolenmoney.

"Accordingly, the public protector finds that General Rhoode and Sergeant Rekhoto acted improperly by investigating the housebreaking without a registered case docket. The failure and/or impropriety is in direct contravention of the section 13(1), (2) and (3) of the SAPS Act, as well as Regulation 5(3) of the SAPS Discipline Regulations," said the report.

Rhoode confirmed to the public protector President Ramaphosa’s version of events, that the crime had been reported to him during a trip to Ethiopia.

Rhoode said he had, in turn, reported the crime to the erstwhile head of detective services, but this could not be corroborated by the public protector, since he had since passed on.

In his written reply to a question from the ATM’s Vuyo Zungula, Minister Cachalia does not say when Rhoode faced the disciplinary hearing that has clearedhim of misconduct.

He said that Rhoode’s current employment status was that of an active member of the SAPS and he remains deployed as the head of the presidential protection service.

Meanwhile, the ATM and ActionSA are currently trying to gain access to an Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) report into the conduct of the police officers involved in the rogue investigation after suspended minister, Senzo Mchunu, said in February the report is to remain classified.