In February 2020, thieves broke into President Cyril Ramaphosa's private game farm in Limpopo, South Africa, and stole a large amount of foreign currency that had been hidden inside a sofa. Six years later, this incident has created serious problems for the president, who built his political reputation on fighting corruption.
On 8 May 2026, South Africa's Constitutional Court ruled that Parliament had acted unlawfully when it stopped an impeachment inquiry against Ramaphosa three years earlier. The court ordered lawmakers to restart the process. Parliament is now quickly establishing a committee to examine the case, reopening a political conflict that Ramaphosa's supporters had hoped was finished.
The scandal is known as Farmgate or Phala Phala, named after Ramaphosa's farm where he raises buffalo and cattle. The president says that around 580,000 US dollars was stolen and that the money came from selling buffalo. However, his critics tell a different story.
In June 2022, Arthur Fraser, the former head of South Africa's State Security Agency, filed a criminal complaint. An independent panel later found evidence that Ramaphosa may have broken the law. Yet in December 2022, the African National Congress voted down these findings.
The Economic Freedom Fighters challenged this decision in court and won. Since the 2024 elections, the ANC no longer has a strong parliamentary majority, making Ramaphosa's position less secure. On 11 May 2026, the president refused to step down and announced he would seek a legal review of the panel report.