A South African court has found a man guilty of stealing more than $580,000 (around ₹ 5.4 crore) in cash from a farm owned by President Cyril Ramaphosa, in a case that triggered a political scandal and brought the president’s position under scrutiny.
Froliana Joseph, a cleaner at the property, was also convicted of conspiracy to commit housebreaking with intent to steal. Her brother, Ndilinasho Joseph, was acquitted of all charges. The president acknowledged that a robbery had taken place but denied wrongdoing and disputed the amount allegedly stolen.
Imanuwela David was found guilty of theft on Monday, as well as conspiracy to commit housebreaking with intent to steal at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in Limpopo province in 2020, according to a report by the BBC. The scandal, known as FarmGate, centres on allegations that around $4 million was stolen during a break-in at Ramaphosa’s privately owned Phala Phala game farm in 2020. He maintained that the cash, approximately $580,000, had come from the sale of buffalo at the farm.
The allegations sparked calls for an investigation into the president’s conduct and raised the possibility of impeachment. However, Parliament voted against pursuing an impeachment inquiry. The ruling paved the way for lawmakers to refer the report to an impeachment committee for consideration. Despite the scandal, Ramaphosa ruled out resigning from office.
An independent parliamentary panel found in 2022 that Ramaphosa had questions to answer over the burglary, including whether he may have violated constitutional requirements. The matter returned to the spotlight in May 2026, when South Africa’s Constitutional Court ruled that Parliament had acted unlawfully by shelving the panel’s report in 2022.
“I will not resign,” he said. “To do so would be to give credence to a panel report that unfortunately has grave flaws,” he added.
