ActionSA is preparing a court challenge that could reopen scrutiny of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala scandal, an issue that continues to resurface despite government attempts to keep key information out of public reach.
In a statement on Tuesday, ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont confirmed that the party is drafting legal papers to challenge the Independent Police Investigating Directorate’s decision to classify its investigation report as Top Secret. This follows an appeal the party submitted last month, which IPID has not answered.
According to ActionSA, the lack of response is part of a broader pattern of obstruction dating back to April 2025, when the party first sought access to the report. Their efforts were repeatedly delayed, with explanations ranging from technical problems to email failures.
The Phala Phala matter dates back to 2022 when it became public that large amounts of foreign currency had been stolen from Ramaphosa’s game farm in Limpopo two years earlier.
Although the President insisted the money was from a lawful game sale, concerns remained about possible money laundering, tax obligations and the conduct of security officials who handled the matter outside standard police procedures.
These concerns intensified when the Public Protector found that members of the Presidential Protection Unit carried out an improper and unauthorised inquiry after the theft without opening a formal police docket, which amounted to maladministration.
Beaumont explained that ActionSA’s legal action will focus on three points. It will challenge the constitutionality of the Minimum Information Security Standards policy that governs how documents are classified, question the rationality of IPID’s decision to label the report Top Secret and ask the court to force IPID to release it.
He argued that the MISS policy gives state officials overly broad authority to withhold information from the public, which he believes contradicts constitutional requirements for transparency. He also criticised provisions that allow classification if releasing information could disrupt relations between government institutions.
In a previous parliamentary reply, then police minister Senzo Mchunu said the report was classified because its release could damage relations between institutions or interfere with operational planning. ActionSA has rejected this explanation, saying there is no reasonable argument for possible operational harm nearly six years after the incident.
The party maintains that the IPID report is the last remaining opportunity for genuine accountability, after other inquiries failed to provide clear answers. Although the Public Protector and the South African Reserve Bank found no legal wrongdoing by Ramaphosa, critics have dismissed those findings as incomplete.
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