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ActionSA has lodged a formal appeal against IPID’s refusal to unseal their investigation report investigating the conduct of the Presidential Protection Unit members in relation to their involvement in the Phala Phala investigation. IPID classified this report as ‘Top Secret’ in contravention of cabinet policy and the constitution which only provides for such a classification in the event that a report could cause the outbreak of war of loss of diplomatic relations.

ActionSA has been in consultation with its legal team to explore the possibility of launching legal action challenging the Minimum Information Security Standards which were used to justify this classification. However, we have been advised that the appeal mechanism must first be satisfied.

These actions are the latest in a line taken to ensure South Africans have access to the information they deserve and to ensure that the President does not operate above the law in a parliament where many former opposition parties have been silenced by blue lights, mansions and other public-funded luxuries.

ActionSA submitted a formal PAIA request in April of 2025 to unseal IPID’s Phala Phala report, which then resulted in delays chalked up to IPID's e-mail system being down. A parliamentary question was submitted to the Minister of Police to determine whether IPID’s system has indeed been down and whether a downed email system had genuinely prevented IPID from performing any of its constitutionally mandated functions.

After a whitewashed report by Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka, and despite the South African Reserve Bank clearing the President of violating exchange control laws, the South African public still does not have access to the information it rightfully deserves. Upon entering Parliament last year, ActionSA declared that it would not simply allow the Phala Phala matter to be swept aside in the manner now seemingly accepted by parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU), whose access to power is now tied to the President.

The IPID investigation report remains the last beachhead for the fight against the abuses of power to protect the President from the events at Phala Phala. The fact that his protection team members were involved in the investigation of the robbery at his farm, in contravention of SAPS policy and law, has been covered up to reward those who covered up for the President.

Transparency is not optional. It can never be subjected to political compromise, and it is needed now more than ever, with a colossal GNU constituting 70% of the South African Parliament. South Africans deserve answers on Phala Phala, and ActionSA’s application is one step towards ensuring those answers are delivered.

Issued by ActionSA National Chairperson Michael Beaumont