President Cyril Ramaphosa had a deal with Arthur Fraser: you leave me alone and I leave you alone. Now that deal has fallen like a house of cards. Qaanitah Hunter explains why.
Let me tell you something bizarre.
Arthur Fraser was not President Cyril Ramaphosa's political foe as we've all been made to believe.
What if I assert that Fraser helped Ramaphosa's bid for the presidency? And that Ramaphosa's kitchen cabinet referred to him as a harmless bear?
Hear me out.
When Ramaphosa took over the Presidency, there were some Zuma lieutenants he could haul over the coals.
He could use these four people as examples to show there's a new sheriff in town and to send a shivering message to Zumaites in the state.
One was former South African Revenue Service (SARS) commissioner Tom Moyane, the others were deputy national director of public prosecutions Nomgcobo Jiba, and ex-PIC boss Dan Matjila. The last was former State Security Agency (SSA) head, Arthur Fraser.
It's what he promised to do in the famed "Thuma Mina" State of the Nation Address of 2018.
Processes used to remove Monyane, Jiba and Matjila
The wheels were quickly set into motion.
The Nugent report laid the basis for Moyane's exit, who was quickly fired.
Ramaphosa had the Mokgoro Commission to deal with Jiba and her partner in crime, Lawrence Mrwebi. Ramaphosa used processes, but eventually dealt with them harshly. The Mpati Commission led to Matjila's axing.
Ramaphosa commissioned the Mufumadi report into corruption at the State Security Agency and this was meant to eviscerate Zuma's main guy at SSA, Fraser.
Only Ramaphosa did not approach Fraser with the buoyancy he dealt with Moyane, Jiba and others.
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Fraser was shuffled to a senior position in the state, as the national commissioner of correctional services.
People were shocked. The DA even tried to challenge the decision, but later withdrew their litigation.
We were told Ramaphosa was playing a long game.
Only, that was a lie. And Ramaphosa was in a chokehold due to what Fraser knew about his 2017 ANC campaign to become president.
People in the know credit Fraser for those CR17 emails showing up at the door of Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane.
But Ramaphosa survived that scandal, and it was quickly a case of hands-off Fraser.
The head of the prisons kept his head down and focused on his work, despite the accusations hanging over his head.
Gentle teddy-bear-like personality
I remember a correctional service official telling me that they could not reconcile the public image of Fraser as a super spy villain to the gentle teddy-bear-like personality they interacted with.
But everyone knew not to dare cross Fraser - not even when there were rumours that he was approving dubious invoices.
Ask Justice Minister Ronald Lamola and his advisor Doc Mashabane, who tried to get rid of Fraser, citing incompetence.
Lamola wrote to Fraser to explain why he should not be suspended for not doing his job. Insiders claim Fraser sent a file back to Lamola that thwarted any effort to remove him.
It became clear that Fraser's deal with Ramaphosa was simple: you leave me alone, and I will leave you alone.
And Ramaphosa did that for the four years that Fraser served as correctional services commissioner.
It is why the Ramaphosa administration sanctioned a decision by Fraser to undermine the parole board and give former president Jacob Zuma medical parole.
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But while Ramaphosa ensured Fraser still had his job because of their deal, his allies started causing an irritation.
People like Sydney Mufumadi and Loyiso Jafta (who succeeded Fraser at the SSA) went to the Zondo Commission to blow the lid on Fraser's shenanigans.
It pissed Fraser off, making his subtle threat more pronounced: if you come for me, I will expose it all; the ANC, the judges, everyone.
So what made Fraser's threat different to Zuma's threats to bring out files on people?
Fraser knows the dirty secrets of Ramaphosa and his allies because they colluded with him and benefitted from his spying.
They called Fraser a harmless bear because they benefitted from the power he wielded in the spook world. Fraser kept his finger on the spook pulse long after leaving the SSA.
Why did Ramaphosa not implement the recommendations of the Mufumadi report he commissioned? Because if someone had to take the fall it had to be Fraser. As glaring as the evidence was against Fraser, Ramaphosa sat on that report - a key reason why the July unrest happened.
A victim of circumstance notion
Now, for as long as Ramaphosa has been president, he has been the beneficiary of a warped notion that the president is a victim of circumstance. The public narrative persisted that he was helpless in the face of the corrupt ANC around him.
Ramaphoria was steeped in the notion that Ramaphosa was better than the ANC and the parasitic state it governed. The finger was hardly pointed at him.
So when a spat between former acting SSA head Loyiso Jafta and then minister of intelligence Ayanda Dlodlo spilt over at the Zondo Commission, it exposed how Ramaphosa played people against each other.
Jafta seemed to get the green light to blow the lid on SSA corruption and, in turn, expose Fraser.
Dlodlo, it seemed, was given the opposite instructions, to gag Jafta from speaking out in an effort not to provoke Fraser.
It was a political mess in which Ramaphosa attempted to stay above the fray.
In the end, Fraser's misdemeanours were put before Zondo and will feature prominently in the commission's final report.
Poking the 'friendly ear'
Added to that, the NPA's investigative directorate is hot on the heels of all those implicated, including a known Fraser ally who was referred to as "Helen" in testimony at the Zondo Commission.
Enter new broom, the new director General Thembi Majola, who is determined to sweep the SSA clean.
All of this has poked the "friendly bear" Fraser.
Remember when I said Ramaphosa's allies were amenable to him because they benefitted from Fraser's spying ways?
Ramaphosa's head of security, and one of his most trusted lieutenants, Wally Rhoode and Fraser go back a long way.
READ | Ghosts of tenders past haunt Ramaphosa's head of security
They have since fallen out, but it doesn't mean Fraser did not use that relationship to secure an insurance package.
That insurance package was used when Fraser opened a criminal case against Ramaphosa detailing a burglary that took place at his farm, and alleged money laundering.
The public had to compare the weight of the accusations versus the character of the person making them.
Fraser made sure his affidavit was rock solid, and there was little Ramaphosa could meaningfully deny. Not the robbery, not the presence of large amounts of forex, and neither the cover-up.
So the president and his allies can only rely on one comeback: the charges laid by Fraser were politically motivated.
Of course, they are!
Of course, Fraser is going for broke after Ramaphosa's allies didn't keep his end of the bargain.
Of course, this move is motivated by political leverage two years after the fact.
We are not stupid to believe Fraser's commitment to the rule of law motivated him to go to the Rosebank police station to open a case against a sitting president.
Farm theft: Ramaphosa's Nixon moment?
ADRIAAN BASSON WRITES that the cover-up of a crime, allegedly orchestrated by President Ramaphosa himself, is possibly the most potent charge faced by the head of state.
OSCAR VAN HEERDEN WRITES that the president is making good ground in the preliminary regional and provincial ANC conferences and seems set for a resounding second term, but instead we are now focused on a supposed crime Cyril Ramaphosa may have committed or not.
RALPH MATHEKGA WRITES that by not reporting a robbery at his farm two years ago, now has serious bearing on President Cyril Ramaphosa and his integrity as a champion of good governance and transparency.
MELANIE VERWOERD WRITES that she will be devastated if it turns out that the president knowingly did something illegal. She is of the view that in a world of so much corruption and dodgy politicians, he has been one of the very few shining lights.
MPUMELELO MAKHABELA WRITES that even if Ramaphosa were to step aside in light of the dollar scandal or suffer defeat in an ANC leadership contest, his current opponents wouldn't look any better.
But its too late for Ramaphosa to decry political conspiracy to divert attention away from the questions he has to answer.
Why? Ramaphosa made a deal with the proverbial devil and has to now deal with the consequences.
The president had every chance to act against players like Fraser, but instead made political deals for his own convenience.
Now those deals have fallen like a house of cards. This farmgate scandal is of Ramaphosa's own making. He is not the victim of bad advice or an unscrupulous head of security, as they will soon make us believe.
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Ramaphosa tiptoed around politically compromised people out of political expediency.
It is why he won't reshuffle ministers who are clearly terrible at the jobs or are even implicated in corruption. It's why he never has and will never condemn former health minister Zweli Mkhize, despite the accusations against him. It's why he won't act against Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, despite her crossing him several times.
He also appointed David Mahlobo after the Mufumadi report implicated him in SSA thievery. These are all part of the political deals he strikes and benefits from.
Now, Ramaphosa is beholden to the political deal he struck with Fraser. He is a victim of his own making, and his fate will be determined by it.
- Qaanitah Hunter is News24's associate editor of politics and opinions.
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