The trial of three people accused of theft at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in Bela–Bela is under way in the Modimolle Regional Court in Limpopo.
Imanuwela David as well as the Joseph siblings – Froliana and Ndilinasho – allegedly stole over 500 000 US dollars in February 2020.
The court has heard the details of how accused number one, Imanuwela David, splashed money on a luxurious vehicle. David bought a Range Rover amongst others.
The vehicle was bought after the infamous theft in Bela Bela in February 2020. David has however told the court that the Range Rover vehicle which he bought was on behalf of his Zimbabwean friend, known as Tony.
During the cross-examination, Advocate Nkhetheni Munyai wanted to know why the vehicle was driven from a dealership by the accused, David, instead of the supposed new owner.
“If I hear you correctly, the agreement that I had with this Tony was that I am far, please do me this favour, I called the dealership, there are certain cars that are limited. Please right now I don’t have access to funds. Please take five thousand rand from your personal account and secure, this is the reference number, you should put on the payment. He gave me that reference number I went to my FNB account. He provided the account with the reference that he gave me to secure this particular Range Rover for him.”
Video| Three accused in Phala Phala theft case back in court
The court also heard how large sums of money was deposited into David’s bank account. At some instance, more than R5 million was deposited into his bank account, two years after the farm theft.
Under cross-examination, David told the court that money came from various sources as he had registered a business.
“I registered business to source stuff from China that’s why I registered a business. If I hear you correctly I have a business registered but the particular three million in question was whatever that I was sourcing. It was under my personal name not my business. There is something called supply and demand obviously volume start growing up from 2020 to 2021.”
