Phala Phala mastermind was bust while drinking alcohol

Imanuwela David, the alleged mastermind behind the Phala Phala theft at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s house, was arrested after alert police officers swooped in on him as he was enjoying a cold beer.

He was found drinking alcohol in a parked car in Rustenburg, just meters away from his mother’s house.

The investigating officer, Lieutenant Colonel Ludi Rolf Schnell, had previously searched for David in Cape Town but was unsuccessful.

During the investigation, police discovered that David’s ex-girlfriend, Penelope Mongalo, had purchased a house in Burgundy Estate, Cape Town, but David had made a partial down-payment using illicit funds.

The house in Rustenburg, where David was eventually found, was also purchased using stolen funds from the Phala Phala housebreaking.

The transaction for this property was flagged as suspicious by the Financial Intelligence Centre and later transferred to a Namibian national named Hafeni Felish.

After their unsuccessful search in Cape Town, the police shifted their focus to Rustenburg, where David’s mother, Amalia, also resides.

“We continued past (the mother’s house) and about 100 metres up the road at a sharp turn we noticed a blue Ford Figo parked on the side of the road. The driver’s door was open and my vehicle’s lights shone directly into the vehicle. We could identify one male person sitting in the driver’s seat, drinking a quart of beer,” said Schnell.

David, along with his siblings Froliana Joseph and Ndilinasho Joseph, appeared before the Bela-Bela Magistrate’s Court seeking release on bail.

The arrest of Imanuwela David marked a significant development in the investigation into the theft at President Ramaphosa’s house.

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