IPID Phala Phala Report Reveals That Major Findings Against the President’s Protectors Have Been Ignored

After a year of fighting for the full investigation report from the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) into the conduct of members of the Presidential Protection Unit (PPU) in the wake of the Phala Phala scandal, ActionSA has succeeded in securing the report.

The report is nothing short of a scandal for Major General Wally Rhoode, who serves as head of the PPU, his fellow members and the President in particular. Completed in October 2023, it makes serious findings against members of the PPU. Yet Rhoode remains in his position without having been held accountable for clear wrongdoing.

The report, which ActionSA has now published, finds that Rhoode and fellow PPU member, Constable HH Rekhoto: 

1. Refused to participate in the IPID investigation despite being members of the South African Police Service.
2. Involved themselves in an unlawful investigation without opening a docket or reporting their actions through the proper chain of command to the National Police Commissioner.
3. Falsified documents to ensure the investigation was funded by the South African Police Service under false pretences linked to PPU operations.
4. Incurred irregular expenditure by flying drivers from Pretoria to assist in the investigation in Cape Town, despite such resources being available locally.
5. Invoked the President’s name during the investigation to pressure law enforcement officials into complying with irregular requests.
6. Interrogated suspects without informing them of their constitutional rights.
7. Facilitated an unauthorised meeting with officials of the Namibian government in a no-man’s-land near Upington, unlawfully including Dr Bejani Chauke, the Presidential Envoy for Africa.

Notwithstanding that these findings have been known for nearly two years, both the leadership of the South African Police Service and the President must now account for their failure to act against Rhoode, Rekhoto and Chauke. This failure, in the case of the President, is compounded by reports that his name was repeatedly invoked during the investigation to deter scrutiny of its irregular nature.

ActionSA’s parliamentary team is writing to the Portfolio Committees on the Presidency and on Police to institute an urgent inquiry into the failure to comply with the recommendations of the IPID report, as well as the apparent abuse of executive authority.

The fight to secure this report has been ongoing for a year. IPID delayed consideration of ActionSA’s PAIA applications, citing technical issues such as downed email systems, and refused subsequent appeals. It was only after ActionSA prepared court papers that the Acting Police Minister, Professor Feroz Cachalia, declassified the report. Even then, follow-up applications were ignored until the report was finally received yesterday. 

ActionSA pursued the release of this report because, at the heart of our democracy, is the principle that every South African must be equal before the law. This principle has been undermined by successive ANC governments and is now further compromised by a Government of National Unity that has been co-opted to protect the ANC.

ActionSA continues to operate as the unofficial opposition in the South African Parliament, vindicating its decision to decline the invitation to join the GNU and to hold this bloated and corrupt government accountable for its continuation of ANC-style governance.

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