Mkhwebane to decide if Ramaphosa is guilty or not
He battles allegations of money laundering
THE BALL is in now Public Protector Busi Mkhwebane’s court to determine if President Cyril Ramaphosa is guilty of money laundering following growing attacks by the DA and EFF during parliamentary debate this week.
Yesterday, Ramaphosa furnished Mkhwebane with his responses on her list of questions prior to leaving for a G20 Summit in Japan and ahead of his deadline which was due today.
While speculation is growing that Mkhwebane’s probe into Ramaphosa’s was not only related to a complaint lodged by DA leader Mmusi Maimane in which he asked the public protector to investigate a donation of R500 000 given to Ramaphosa for his ANC presidential campaign ahead of his party’s elective conference in Nasrec in 2017.
Media speculated that Mkhwebane was also investigating donations to the tune of R400 million and the identity of the donors which allegedly included the Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation, CR17 campaign bank accounts and a trust account held by a Joburg law firm.
It is alleged that Mkhwebane has to subpoena several banks to allow her access to these accounts as Ramaphosa’s donors apparently refused to co-operate with her investigations.
Both CR17 campaign managers, former trade unionist James Motlatsi and Benjanie Chauke, have since dismissed the allegations, including the alleged amounts.
The Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation has also dismissed allegations that it financially contributed to its patron’s political party’s presidential ambition. This week, Mkhwebane also remained tight-lipped on her actual charges against Ramaphosa – but only confirmed that money laundering was part of her probe.
Presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko said: “The president’s submission contains various confirmatory affidavits and supporting documents which, in his view, will enable this matter to be brought to its conclusion as speedily as possible.
“The president has reaffirmed his respect for the Office of the Public Protector and his commitment to offer his full co-operation,” Diko said.
She also said that Ramaphosa met Mkhwebane’s deadline on her notice with respect to an investigation into alleged violations of the Executive Ethics Code. Diko said Ramaphosa submitted his responses yesterday after he was granted two extensions.
Meanwhile, Mkhwebane has threatened to take legal action against the SACP’s second deputy secretary Solly Mapaila for allegedly labelling her a “hired gun of the fight-back agenda”. Mapaila was addressing the national policy conference of the labour union Nehawu when he allegedly made those comments.
In reaction, Mkhwebane’s spokesperson, Oupa Segalwe, said “advocate Mkhwebane takes serious exception to this vitriol and challenges Mr Mapaila to produce evidence to support his claims or retract the statements and apologise, failing which she will consider taking legal steps against him”.
“It must be remembered that it was Mapaila’s party, the SACP, which, following the release of the Nkandla report in 2014, vilified the then public protector, saying she abused her power and played into ‘anti-democratic regime-change agenda that seeks to portray the entirety of government as corrupt’, with its youth wing saying that she was ‘not God’,” he added.
He said the SACP also questioned the timing of the release of the report and went as far as to label the whole Nkandla saga as “white people’s lies”.
Segalwe said Mkhwebane received various other attacks from the SACP in the past , but he considered the latest attack to be more serious.
In reply, SACP spokesperson Alex Mashilo said his party would deal with the substance of the matter “as and when Mkhwebane approaches the party”. However, he added that his party “unwaveringly reiterates its position that no organ of state, including a Chapter 9 institution, is above the law”, adding that “the incumbent public protector is absolutely no exception”.