Simon Nare
Former Crime Intelligence boss Mulangi Mphego has denied any involvement in the disappearance of documents — linked to the Phala Phala investigation — from the Pretoria home of since deceased Deputy National Commissioner for Crime Detection, Lieutenant-General Sindile Mfazi.
The documents, linked to the investigation into the theft of foreign currency from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s private Phala Phala game farm, are alleged to have disappeared after Mfazi’s death in 2021, when his belongings were packed at his Pretoria home and delivered to his wife, Malindi, in the Eastern Cape.
Mphego has been at the centre of speculation in the Phala Phala investigation as former head of intelligence.
In a detailed statement issued this week, he said he had chosen to remain silent and not publicly engage on the matter even though he “felt hamstrung and trapped in a complex emotional knot between personal loyalty and professional ethics”.
Mphego, who was former deputy president David Mabuza’s special advisor, said that he had chosen to remain quiet out of a desire to protect personal matters, but now that there were people who had sent “digital assassins” to hijack Mfazi’s memory, he would no longer remain silent.
He denied any political links to Ramaphosa, as has been widely claimed.
“The sensationalist claims suggesting I had political links to President Ramaphosa, or any role in the alleged disappearance of Phala Phala investigation files from Pitso’s (Mfazi) possession, are absolute fabrications.
“I hold absolutely no brief for President Ramaphosa or any individual associated with the Phala Phala debacle. I completely reject any sickening attempt to link my name to the alleged sordid actions,” he said in the statement.
He said when he served in The Presidency between 2018 and 2023, he was explicitly working as the since deceased Mabuza’s special advisor, and never worked with the president.
He also said he had no knowledge that Mfazi, whom he regarded as his best friend, was investigating the Phala Phala matter or that he had any documents linked to it.
Mphego further denied setting foot inside Mfazi’s Pretoria home during the period after his death, rejecting allegations that he had personally packed or removed any documents from the house.
He said his only involvement was responding to a distress call from Steve, one of the people he said had been involved in transporting Mfazi’s belongings.
According to Mphego, Malindi had instructed three people, whom he named as Felicia, Steve and Luyolo, to pack Mfazi’s belongings and deliver them to her in East London.
“Under Malindi’s direct orders, Felicia, Steve, and Luyolo loaded Pitso’s black Mercedes-Benz bus. Steve, accompanied by Luyolo, then drove that bus straight to Malindi in East London, handing over the vehicle and its entire contents directly to her.
“Any documents Pitso possessed would have been packed into that specific bus and delivered to Malindi. That is exactly where investigators must probe,” he said.
Mphego also revealed that he had initially thought that Mfazi’s death was related to COVID-19, but he has since been “utterly shocked to learn of allegations pointing to a far sinister possibility: that he was murdered”.
He called for a “rigorous, uncompromised, and formal criminal investigation” into Mfazi’s death and said he was prepared to assist investigators in any credible process aimed at establishing the truth.
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