IOL reported the Modimolle Regional Court convicted Imanuwela David and Froliana Joseph in the Phala Phala theft.

A conspiracy count and a theft count are not the same conviction. Froliana, in IOL and the Citizen, and Floriana, in SABC News, are not the same spelling. Pre-sentence proceedings, sentencing proceedings, and a Friday IOL did not date are not the same next step. Ndilinasho Joseph was acquitted.

IOL reported Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, that regional magistrate Peter Manthata, in the Modimolle Regional Court, found Imanuwela David guilty of conspiracy to commit housebreaking with intent to steal, housebreaking with intent to steal and theft, and money laundering. It reported Froliana Joseph was convicted of conspiracy to commit housebreaking with intent to steal. It reported all three accused were found not guilty of housebreaking with intent to steal at Stokkiesdraai, a neighbouring farm. It reported the case was postponed to next week Friday for pre-sentence proceedings. It did not print Nov. 13. The Citizen, in a story published the same day, reported Manthata found David and Froliana guilty of conspiracy to commit housebreaking with intent to steal and theft, and that David was also convicted of money laundering. Guilty of conspiracy and theft, for both, is not IOL's count for Froliana. The Citizen reported the matter was postponed to Nov. 13 for sentencing proceedings, that David will remain in custody, and that Froliana's bail was extended. Sentencing proceedings, and pre-sentence proceedings, are not the same description. Custody and extended bail are the Citizen. IOL did not print them. SABC News, in a story by Vutivi Maluleke timestamped Nov. 2, 2026, at 18:08 SAST, reported the court found Imanuwela David and Floriana Joseph guilty of stealing more than $580,000 at President Cyril Ramaphosa's farm in February 2020. Floriana, in that story's body, and Froliana, in IOL and the Citizen, are not the same spelling. The photograph caption on the SABC story spelled the first name Immanuela. The body spelled it Imanuwela. SABC News reported Ndilinasho Joseph was acquitted of all charges and that the matter was postponed to Nov. 13, 2026, for sentencing. It did not print money laundering, Stokkiesdraai, custody, or bail.

SABC News quoted Manthata: "Considering the evidence in its totality, the only inference I can draw under the circumstances is that the communication between the accused one and two was about the dollar hidden under the couch at the house in the Phala Phala farm. I therefore, find that the two conspired about the breaking in and a stealing of the money in the said house." It reported he said the state proved its case against the two beyond a reasonable doubt. IOL reported he said there were no fingerprints and no usable video of who broke into the house. It quoted him: "This is a clear indication that the investigations of this case were poorly done," and that it was not understandable because this was not an ordinary house but the house of the president. It reported he said it was not surprising the case was opened two years after the theft. It reported he could not find that any of the three, including David, broke into the house at Stokkiesdraai, because there was no direct evidence, no fingerprints, and nothing from that house was found on them. A finding that two people conspired, in the SABC quotation, and a finding that the court could not say who broke in, in IOL, are both his judgment. They are not a finding that a camera showed a face.

IOL reported Froliana was a temporary worker at Phala Phala and that Manthata found she and David communicated by phone before and after the break-in. It reported he said her duties let her into the house and that she was the only one, among employees with that access, who had substantial phone contact with him. It reported she gave no explanation for the calls and did not testify. It reported Ndilinasho had never worked at the farm, that nothing in the siblings' bank accounts showed they benefited, and that the state never alleged common purpose in a way that would let the court convict the siblings of the housebreaking itself. The Citizen spelled him Ndilinasho David Joseph and reported the same acquittal, without the middle name David in the SABC story or in IOL. IOL reported Manthata accepted a Benoni salesman's account that on the morning of Feb. 10, 2020, the morning after the Feb. 9 break-in, David asked for a Volkswagen Golf 7 and put three packs of US dollars in a drawer. It reported the salesman first said the money came from his underpants and then said it came from his pocket, and that Manthata called him honest aside from that contradiction. It reported the magistrate rejected a claim the Golf was paid for in rand, and rejected David's account that a businessman named John Pedro bought the cars. The Citizen reported the cash taken from a couch was US $580,000, about R9.2 million at the time, on Feb. 9, 2020, at the farm in Bela-Bela. IOL reported the theft figure Ramaphosa has maintained as $580,000, paid by a Sudanese businessman for 20 buffaloes. SABC News reported more than $580,000. More than $580,000, and $580,000, are not the same figure.

The Citizen reported the theft became public in June 2022, when former State Security Agency boss Arthur Fraser laid a complaint accusing Ramaphosa and the head of the Presidential Protection Service, Wally Rhoode, of concealing a theft of $4 million, about R65.5 million. It reported Ramaphosa confirmed a burglary and said the $580,000 was payment for Ankole cattle from Sudanese businessman Hazim Mustafa, who had not collected the animals. It reported the Public Protector, the South African Reserve Bank, and the South African Revenue Service cleared the president, and that the Independent Police Investigative Directorate reported Rhoode covered up the break-in. IOL reported Fraser's June 2022 complaint as concealment of dollars hidden in a couch, Ramaphosa's account of $580,000 for 20 buffaloes, a November 2022 parliamentary panel that found he may have committed a serious violation, and a National Assembly vote the next month not to adopt that report. $4 million and $580,000 are not the same sum. Ankole cattle and 20 buffaloes are not the same description. IOL reported the National Prosecuting Authority had said the three accused are South Africans of Namibian origin. The Citizen reported they originate from Namibia and are South African citizens, and it also called David a Namibian national. Those phrases are all in the Citizen's story and in IOL. They are not one citizenship finding. IOL reported the Limpopo prosecuting authority welcomed the convictions. It named advocate Nkhetheni Munyai for the state, advocate Koena Matlala for David, and advocate Relleng Masipa for the Joseph siblings. It reported the trial started in September 2025. Monday's orders are the convictions and the acquittal. They are not a sentence.