South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa is at the centre of a criminal investigation after it was revealed that he failed to report the theft of about $4 million in cash from his farm in northern Limpopo province.

The theft, which occurred in 2020, was reported in an affidavit by the country’s former head of intelligence Arthur Fraser, who initiated the case against Mr Ramaphosa.

However, Mr Ramaphosa maintained that the cash was from buying and selling animals on his farm.

“I want to reaffirm that I was not involved in any criminal conduct, and once again I pledge my full cooperation with any form of investigation,” Mr Ramaphosa said on Sunday. “I would like to say that I’m a farmer. I’m in the cattle business and the game business. And through that business, which has been declared to Parliament and all over, I buy and I sell animals.”

Mr Ramaphosa also claimed that he reported the theft to the head of his VIP Protection unit, who did not report it to the police.

In South Africa it is illegal not to report a crime and according to Mr Fraser’s affidavit, Mr Ramaphosa tried to conceal the incident. 

The Democratic Alliance, the administration’s opposition party, urged Mr Ramaphosa to reveal all the events surrounding the heist and why it was not reported to the police.

“The president is facing a crisis of credibility and cannot hide behind procedural smokescreens to avoid presenting South Africans with the full truth around the money that was stolen from his farm, and the subsequent cover-up,” Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen said in a statement.