Parly, ANC ‘dropped the ball’

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa faced questions at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture with regard to Parliament's oversight during the state capture years, party funding and its relation to state capture, in particular, his CR17 campaign.

He was also quizzed about the R500 000 donation his campaign received from facilities management company Bosasa.

Ramaphosa, testifying as ANC president, attempted to distance himself from the administration of his campaign, saying his colleagues had decided not to involve him.

He could recall that a colleague had approached one of the Watson brothers for a personal donation to his campaign and that his colleague understood that the funds would come from Bosasa chief executive Gavin Watson but he now knew that it was from Bosasa.

He also claimed that he did not know what all the campaign money, estimated at around R300 million, was used for.

Speaking further about his ANC presidential campaign, Ramaphosa emphasised that contrary to popular belief, it had not bought votes despite claims by many of his detractors.

He insisted that the allegations that his win in 2017 at the ANC’s elective conference was bought were “completely devoid of any truth”.

“The rumour that the money was used to buy votes, that is far from it. I said I would rather lose the race rather than have votes bought. It (money) was used to transport people and hire venues. There is still a debt that still has to be paid,” he said.

“There was nothing sinister about the CR17 campaign, there was nothing underhand. I would never allow that.”

Although he was unclear about what the donations financed, he was told that they were used to buy food, cover transport and hire venues, among other costs of the campaign.

The high court recently heard a case by the EFF in which the party sought to convince the court to unseal financial documents linked to the CR17 campaign. Judgment has been reserved. The matter had also been probed by Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane.

She found Ramaphosa had lied to Parliament about the donation from Bosasa. She said the campaign had been used for money laundering.

Mkhwebane's report was set aside and a Constitutional Court appeal application was heard in November last year.

Ramaphosa conceded that Parliament and the ANC “dropped the ball” in not dealing swiftly with allegations of state capture that were contained in the Gupta leaks and various media reports. Evidence leader advocate Alec Freud put it to Ramaphosa that when allegations started to surface, of outside sources interfering with the executive, Parliament had an obligation to investigate the claims.

Ramaphosa agreed but defended Parliament, saying the allegations were not backed by evidence at the time.

“I do agree that Parliament has a role when it comes to allegations of this note; it is the governing party that should activate its role. And if it fails, then Parliament should come in, but they would need more than allegations. Gupta leaks amounted to evidence that could be followed through,” Ramaphosa said.

Freud continued: “For more than five years, Parliament did not investigate and hold inquiries and do what was possible about serious allegations.”

Ramaphosa responded: “I accept and concede that. There was a dropping of the ball at that level.”

In a closing statement to Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, the president said state capture undermined the integrity and capability of public institutions and deeply damaged the effectiveness of the ANC.

Ramaphosa will return to the commission next month.