Mchunu says no cover-up in Top-Secret Phala Phala Ipid report

Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has denied allegations of any political pressure being exerted on him after the Ipid Phala Phala report was declared Top-Secret, saying this was to protect ongoing investigations and not to conceal information from the public.

Mchunu's comments come amid growing pressure from opposition parties who are threatening to take the matter to court. 

The report, which was completed by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) in October 2023, allegedly contains information about police behavior during the Phala Phala farm scandal involving President Cyril Ramaphosa.

"It's not exactly that the report should not be released, but what has happened is that there was a complaint filed by the ATM (African Transformation Movement) on the report of Ipid," Mchunu explained. 

"Ipid received this report about police behavior on the Phala Phala matter, and they started investigating that behavior. While they were dealing with it, there were other aspects investigated by other agencies, and one of them was the Public Protector and the other one was the Hawks."

Mchunu emphasised that the report's classification as top secret was done to prevent interference with ongoing investigations. 

"Once the others have completed their reports, then the report will be released," he said. 

"There may be a perception that there is a cover-up, but not after we explain ourselves. If IPID were to release their report only to disturb criminal investigations, apart from other aspects, because other aspects are to protect witnesses who were involved in the investigation."

The minister also denied there was any political pressure on him to suppress the report. 

"Ipid completed their report, according to them, in October 2023, that was way before I was even the minister. I only became a minister in 2024 in July. That report had already been classified, so therefore, I can't be under pressure from anyone on a report that was completed long before I came in. All I have done is that I have observed the decisions that are guiding the release of this report under which it was classified as top secret," Mchunu said.

Despite Mchunu's assurances, opposition parties remain sceptical. The ATM has already announced plans to take the matter to court, and other parties are expected to follow suit.

Party spokesperson Zama Ntshona said his organisation is to meet soon to discuss the way forward on the matter.

“The National Executive Committee (NEC) will meet soon, this matter will be one of the points of discussion and a directive will be given afterwards, but what is clear is that this can't be the end of this…We need answers around the Phala-Phala farm gate scandal,” Ntshona said.

“We can go the legal route so that the report must be unsealed because we cannot have this phenomenon of having bank statements (related to the CR17 campaign) sealed and now this sealed.

“Everything around President Cyril Ramaphosa’s way must be sealed,” he said.

EFF spokesperson Sinawo Thambo said parliamentary attempts to get the IPID report public had been exhausted. 

“Our last resort was the Constitutional Court, where we challenged Parliament's unjust decision to block the report,” Thambo said. 

MKP spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said the party was steadfast in uncovering the truth and  would be relying on the police and intelligence portfolio committees to seek accountability, failing which they will seek legal advice.

“We will seek legal advice on this matter to ensure that those responsible are held to account. South Africa cannot be governed by secrecy, deception, and political favours.

“If Ramaphosa and his enablers think they can continue to rule through lies and cover-ups, they are gravely mistaken. People in this country deserve better. The truth will come out,” said Ndhlela.

Meanwhile, AfriForum rejected crime statistics Mchunu presented recently, arguing that he was deliberately downplaying the scale of farm murders.

The organisation announced to Mchunu that eight confirmed farm murders had taken place between October and December 2024.

However Mchunu denied that AfriForum’s evidence was accurate. 

“We released statistics with the principle of transparency, the principle of accountability among others. We have no reason to downplay farm murders, instead our stats indicate that there were 12 farm murders from October last year to December.

“Those that have been released by AfriForum point at 10 which is below our numbers. So you can't downplay when our figures are higher…Afriforum has challenged our stats. We appreciate and welcome that but they could be meaning something that we don't classify accordingly,” Mchunu said.