CAPE TOWN – A powerful anti-corruption watchdog cleared South African President Cyril Ramaphosa of any wrongdoing. This is connected to the case where millions of dollars was stashed in a couch at his game farm.

Known infamously as farmgate. The scandal involves between $580,000 and $5m of foreign currency. The Public Protector says it notified implicated parties of the preliminary findings of its probe over the theft of large sums of money from Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm. The president is accused having attempted to conceal this.

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The finding is a major win for Ramaphosa who has been plagued for the last 10 months of the accusations that he tried to cover up the theft. All in an alleged effort to avoid questioning and scrutiny over having large amounts of U.S. dollars on his property.

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, said at the weekend that the president received the report. He adds that the details were leaked to local media outlets:

The Presidency is in receipt of the Public Protector’s preliminary report. As stated before, we reiterate that the President did not participate in any wrong doing, nor did he violate the oath of his office. Instead, the President was a victim of a crime that he duly reported to the relevant authorities

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The end of the farmgate tunnel?

However, this is not the end for the president. Ramaphosa still faces investigations by an elite unit from the National Prosecutor and by the South African Reserve Bank. They are searching into whether there have been any violations related to foreign currency exchange.

It is worth noting that the public protector’s investigation is one of the last major legal hurdles for Ramaphosa regarding farmgate.

Ramaphosa previously said the money was received as payment for buffaloes bought by Hazim Mustafa, a Sudanese businessman. The president is accused of failing to report the matter to the police, abusing his power and exposing himself to a conflict of interest.

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The farmgate scandal was almost the end of Ramaphosa, as it nearly saw him exit office in December. He narrowly escaped a parliamentary vote that could have initiated proceedings to see him removed from office. This has, however, endangered his chances of securing a second term following next year’s elections.