The fourth state witness in the theft of more than half a million US dollars from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in Bela-Bela will return to the stand in the Modimolle Regional Court, Limpopo, on Monday.

The witness was provisionally withdrawn after disputing the content of a statement that the police had taken from him.

The court then ruled that a trial-within-a-trial be conducted to determine whether the witness made the statement or not. He was also declared a hostile witness.

Imanuela David and co-accused, siblings Florianah and Ndilinasho Joseph, are facing several charges for the burglary that happened in February 2020.

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The witness, a colleague of accused number one, Immanuela David, at a private security company, confirmed that the signature in the statement is his, but disputed the content of the statement.

He said the statement was presented to him by the police, and he was ordered to sign it. About 7 of the 22 state witnesses lined up have testified.

One of the state witnesses has testified that David purchased numerous vehicles to the value of more than R4 million, using US dollars.

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