Opposition MPs described as 'whitewash' and 'unadulterated claptrap' the South African Reserve Bank finding that no exchange control laws were broken in the Phala Phala scandal. While bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago managed to keep his cool, the debacle signals a fractured state system.

Perhaps Parliament's Standing Committee on Finances should have also called the SA Revenue Service (SARS), Hawks, SA Police Service and the Financial Intelligence Centre to Wednesday's meeting. That way, each state entity could report back how they had remained in their lanes. Getting everyone in the same room has been done before.

On Wednesday, South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Governor Lesetja Kganyago reiterated how investigations by its Financial Surveillance Department -- supported by "massive resources" and outside legal opinions -- into the foreign currency stolen from President Cyril Ramaphosa's Phala Phala game farm showed no contravention of Regulation 6(1), which requires the declaration of foreign currency within 30 days. That's because the conditions of the contentious sale of buffalo at the farm to Sudanese businessman Hazim Mustafa -- state veterinary examinations, transport and export permits and the like -- remained outstanding.

Describing the $580,000 paid for the buffalo as a "security deposit" provided somewhat more detail to MPs than the initial SA Reserve Bank statement on its findings last week.

"The mere possession of foreign currency is not what's regulated in terms of the exchange control regulation," Kganyago told MPs, adding this was dealt with by customs and excise...