MAN OF MYSTERY

We meet the man who kick-started the allegations against President Cyril Ramaphosa with the buying of his buffalo

- DENNIS CAVERNELIS

DESIGNER luggage stuffed with cash, globe-trotting shopping sprees, RollsRoyces and Ferraris and dealings with dictatorial regimes - welcome to the world of Hazim Mustafa, international man of mystery and buyer of President Cyril Ramaphosa's problematic buffalo.

He's the guy who forked out $580 000 (R9,8 million) in cash for the animals, setting off a chain of events that mired the president in scandal and brought him to the brink of resigning.

Farmgate has seen Ramaphosa facing several damning accusations, including tax evasion, holding undeclared foreign currency and covering up the robbery of the money after it was stolen from inside a couch at his Phala Phala farm.

He's also accused of misusing state resources by ordering a senior presidential bodyguard to track down the thieves claims he's denied.

For months the man behind the buffalo deal remained unknown and there was speculation about whether such a person even existed. But Sudanese businessman Hazim was recently unearthed as the buyer and he's been shedding light on what went down in Limpopo to trigger one of the biggest crises to hit a sitting SA president.

BIRTHDAY DIVERSION

Hazim was in SA in December 2019 to celebrate the birthday of his South Africa-born wife, Bianca O'Donoghue and to shop around for a new house in Limpopo for her family.

"I flew out while she was there to celebrate the birthday and Christmas with her family, the Dubai-based Hazim told Sky News.

"I wanted to buy a house [for] her because her family's house is small and old, then I found out the time is not reasonable for buying house this time."

He also decided to shop around for animals to add to his extensive collection, he told The Guardian.

"Do you know how many dogs, cats, gazelles and even ferrets we have at our house?"