For the second day in a row, ANC leader and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa missed a meeting of the historic party in which self is the main issue. The man who came to power as a fighter against corruption, unlike his predecessor Jacob Zuma, saw the publication of a parliamentary report on Wednesday that makes him suspected of several crimes. The next day, the country was abuzz with rumors that he would announce his resignation, a scenario which party members publicly reject.
The scandal erupted in early June when former intelligence director Arthur Fraser, an ally of Zuma, filed a lawsuit. The facts date back to February 2020. According to the complaint, a gang of five Namibians and South Africans raided the 4,500-hectare estate of Ramaphosa in the Limpopo province, Phala Phala.
By Fraser’s estimate, the miscreants, in collusion with an employee, seized $4 million in stacks of bills hidden under couch cushions in a seldom-used guest bedroom. But that is not everything. Ramaphosa, who was at an African Union summit in Ethiopia at the time of the theft, did not report the fact to police or the IRS, after directing the presidency’s chief of security, General Rhoode, to investigate the matter. to treat.
In an affidavit, Fraser claimed that Rhoode hired a private investigator to identify and locate the perpetrators of the theft, who were later kidnapped and tortured until they returned the stolen money.
Ramaphosa justifies the money hidden in the bank by selling buffaloes, but they never left the premises
Ramaphosa denies Fraser’s allegations. This, it should be noted, is the man who, as Director General of Prison Services, secured the release of Jacob Zuma. The former president had barely served two months of his 15-month prison sentence for contempt of court after repeatedly refusing to testify in investigations into suspected fraud and corruption.
The aforementioned parliamentary committee concludes that Ramaphosa “may have committed violations and misconduct”, although it puts the amount in question, which Ramaphosa claims at US$580,000, at a maximum of US$800,000, not four million. The president, who made the fight against corruption and illicit enrichment the banner of his campaign for leadership, explained that the money came from the sale of buffalo to a Sudanese businessman. However, the report says that the buffalo never left Phala Phala.
If Ramaphosa does not step down, which is taken for granted, it will be up to ANC MPs to decide his future by discussing the report and deciding whether to start impeachment proceedings. For now, members of the party – which will meet in Congress from the 16th to choose between Ramaphosa’s re-election and the election of former minister Zweli Mkhize – are calling for calm, but the fact that they can bridge a meeting with peers twice to burn.
Source: DN
