In June 2020, Imanuwela David escaped from South Africa to Namibia, about four months after his alleged involvement in the theft of millions of dollars hidden in a sofa at President Cyril Ramphosa’s Phala Phala game farm. | amaBhungane
In June 2020, months after the robbery at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm, the alleged mastermind skipped the country with the aid of two dodgy forex traders – a certain Papa J and a man named Prince.
Ngalangi allegedly collected David from Noordoewer on the Namibian side of the border, after David had illegally crossed the Orange River by canoe. In another video in which Jele’s voice can be heard, the camera pans over bricks of R200 and R100 notes stored in a gym bag and a box. Mazibuko, also a forex trader who is popular on social media, is facing 194 counts of theft and fraud after he allegedly scammed 40 people of R735 000 through his company, Born Rich Group.He told amaBhungane he and two friends collected David in Pretoria and, though Jele paid him R20 000 for the trip, he denied knowingly being involved in a scheme to smuggle David out of the country.
The group did not return to Gauteng with David. According to Mazibuko, David said he would stay behind because the people he was meeting had not arrived. Questions sent to the South African High Commission in Windhoek were unanswered at the time of publication.Papa J’s version He told amaBhungane in June 2020, he received a call from a man from whom he bought a lot of vehicles in 2018. This man, named only as Saqeeb, owned a dealership in Benoni and they had formed a friendly relationship.
Jele told amaBhungane David had sent the money through an intermediary called Alex, a Nigerian who owned a boutique in Pretoria. David claimed he had a problem with his bank account and said Alex was his business associate. Kaadi said David, who he has known since 2019, was “not really his friend”, nor a business associate, but a customer who bought clothes from him and had asked him to fix his blue VW Golf 7 in 2021.Kaadi said David only asked him to make payments on two occasions but he did not remember exactly who was paid or what year the requests were made. “There [were] about two people he asked me to send money to… I think R10 000 or R 5 000,” said Kaadi.
Jele said he didn’t know anything about the break-in at Ramaphosa’s home and was adamant that if investigators were to look at his phone and bank records, his story would be corroborated. In the audio recording, David is heard claiming the figure was much lower because they only stole a portion of the cash hidden in the sofa at the farm.
From the description in the recording, it appears police raided a Milnerton property where David and other suspects were staying in 2020 after the robbery. It is also notable that Becker was unexpectedly moved across from the CID to the police’s forensics division in mid-July 2020, a month after David’s arrest – a move that has raised eyebrows since he had been in charge of the CID for less than a year.Since news of Fraser’s complaint broke, South African officials, contrary to claims made by Namibian police, have denied receiving a request from the Namibians for mutual legal assistance in investigating David.
After identifying “individuals, bank accounts, and various properties including lodges, houses and vehicles suspected to have been purchased with the proceeds of crime”, and having obtained a preservation order, Namibian authorities turned to South Africa’s ministry of justice to “to confirm whether or not a crime was registered in South Africa”.
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