Phala Phala burglary: Top staff of car dealership that sold vehicles to alleged mastermind distance themselves from transactions

The owner, manager and salesperson of a car dealership that sold six luxury cars to the alleged mastermind behind the Phala Phala farm robbery distanced themselves from the transactions.

In 2020, Imanuwela David allegedly bought R4 million worth of cars from the Benoni-based dealership, using stolen funds.

David, along with siblings Froliana and Ndilinasho Joseph, is charged with breaking and entering into President Cyril Ramaphosa’s farm and stealing 580,000 US dollars.

They appeared in the Modimolle Regional Court in Limpopo on Wednesday for trial.

The car salesperson who first met David testified in court that he wanted to pay cash, using US dollars.

The salesperson said that since he’s not authorised to handle cash, he passed David onto the general manager.

The general manager, who testified last week, said that his role was nly limited to showing off the car to David.

"When the deal was done, I took the guys [David and two of his friends he was travelling with] from my garage to where my director was and they did the deal there at the office."

The director testified and said that he also had a limited role in the transactions and it was the general manager that handled everything.

"He [the general manager] must be mistaken. Because it being of cash nature, there was no need for me to be involved, but if it had to be bank finance, then I have to know about it."

The trial resumes on 8 December.