Ramaphosa ‘not resigning’ in face of impeachment threat
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, embroiled in scandal and under threat of impeachment, had no intention of resigning and would fight both politically and judicially, his spokesman said.
Pressure mounted last week for Ramaphosa to quit or be forced from office over the burglary of more than half a million US dollars in cash from his farm, which he allegedly covered up.
Last Wednesday, a three-member parliamentary panel, including a former chief justice of the highest court, said Ramaphosa “may have committed” acts contrary to the law and the constitution, paving the way for impeachment proceedings.
“President Ramaphosa is not resigning based on a flawed report, neither is he stepping aside,” his spokesman, Vincent Magwenya, said.
Ramaphosa has been under fire since June, when a former spy boss filed a complaint with police alleging the president had hidden a February 2020 burglary at his farm in northeastern South Africa from the authorities.
He allegedly organised for the burglars to be kidnapped and bribed into silence.
Ramaphosa, head of the African National Congress (ANC) ruling party, has denied any wrongdoing. He has not been charged with anything and the police inquiry is continuing.
But the scandal, complete with details of cash hidden under sofa cushions, comes at the worst possible moment for the president.
On December 16, Ramaphosa contests elections for the ANC presidency – a position that also holds the key to staying on as national president.
“The president has taken to heart the unequivocal message coming from the branches of the governing party who have nominated him to avail himself for a second term of the leadership of the ANC,” Magwenya said.
Ramaphosa understood that “to mean he must continue with both the state and economic reforms”, he added.
The ANC leadership met briefly in Johannesburg on Friday, before saying it would look more closely at the facts of the case. Its national executive committee will hold a special session today.
Magwenya also said the president would challenge the parliamentary report in court.
“It is in the long-term interest … of our constitutional democracy, well beyond the Ramaphosa presidency, that such a clearly flawed report is challenged, especially when it’s being used as a point of reference to remove a sitting head of state,” he said.
Even the head of the South African Anglican Church warned that, if Ramaphosa resigned, the country would be in danger of falling “into anarchy”.
Ramaphosa said the vast sum of cash stashed at the farm was payment for buffaloes bought by a Sudanese businessman.
But the incriminating report questioned why the identity of Mustafa Mohamed Ibrahim Hazim, said to have bought the cattle, could not be verified, and why the buffaloes remained on Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala estate, a two-hour drive from Pretoria.
“There are serious doubts as to whether the stolen foreign currency actually came from their sale,” the report concluded.
The scandal has cast a shadow over Ramaphosa’s bid to portray himself as corruption-free after the corruption-stained era of his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.
The report will be examined by parliament tomorrow. That could open the way to a vote on impeaching Ramaphosa – a term that in South Africa means removal from office.