Suspected Phala Phala burglary mastermind allegedly bought over R4 million in luxury cars

The suspected mastermind behind the Phala Phala burglary allegedly used some of the money he stole from the farm on a fleet of luxury cars, including two similar Mercedes G-Wagons that he bought after crashing the first one.

This is according to the testimony of a sales manager at a car dealership in Benoni.

The manager has been telling the Modimolle Regional Court in Limpopo about his relationship with accused number one, Imanuwela David.

David, along with siblings Froliana and Ndilinasho Joseph, are currently on trial for breaking into President Cyril Ramaphosa’s farm in February 2020, where they allegedly stole 580 thousand US dollars in cash.

The sales manager testified in court on Friday sold six cars to David, totaling about R4.2 million.

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He said that David used US dollars to pay for the cars.

This prompted state prosecutor Nketheni Munyai to ask, “Did you perhaps inquire from accused number one (David) as to the source of his funds?”

To which the sales manager replied, “Yes, I did. He (said) he was from Namibia and he sells diamonds. He would get diamonds from Namibia and take it to Cape Town, then somebody would come through, pick them up, and pay him in dollars.”

When asked what the car dealership’s process for accepting foreign currency is, the sales manager said that he did not know, as that part was handled by his boss.