Ramaphosa ‘didn’t wilfully mislead MPs’

He sought to correct answer he gave about R500 000 Bosasa donation, says Mthembu

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa did not “intentionally” and “wilfully” mislead the National Assembly about the R500 000 he received from Bosasa, ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu said yesterday.

“He did not deliberately mislead the National Assembly.

“His conduct would therefore not be categorised as unparliamentary because he came with no intention,” Mthembu said.

“He did not have that intention. He did not have that willingness to mislead the House,” he said.

The briefing took place amid the furore sparked by a letter Ramaphosa wrote to House Speaker Baleka Mbete clarifying his previous response to a parliamentary question from DA leader Mmusi Maimane, who asked him about a payment made to his son Andile.

He had told the National Assembly that Andile’s company has a contract with African Global Operations, formerly called Bosasa, for the provision of consultancy services.

In his letter to Mbete, Ramaphosa said he had been subsequently informed that the payment did not relate to that contract but was a donation on behalf of Bosasa’s Gavin Watson for his ANC presidential campaign.

Yesterday, Mthembu said the ANC caucus in Parliament had accepted Ramaphosa’s written correction.

“As caucus, we applaud the honesty and sincerity with which the president has handled this matter, by providing a correction upon having realised he had made a mistake in his oral reply to Parliament.

“You know it’s only good leadership and people that can be trusted with our government that are able to say I was wrong, here is a correct version so that’s why we applaud our president,” he said.

Mthembu also said other people might not have corrected themselves if they had provided the wrong information for fear it would damage their reputation.

“But not this president. When he has made an honest mistake, he corrected it.

“These actions demonstrate astute and upright leadership on the part of the president.”

Mthembu said when Ramaphosa made a similar mistake on the cost of legal fees of former President Jacob Zuma, “nobody even worried about his second correspondence with Parliament”.

Mthembu said parliamentary rules should be amended to allow for corrections to be made within specific timeframes.

“At the moment we don’t have such a rule… The need for this provision in our rules is important because it has been proven that it is possible to unknowingly give wrong or erroneous information to the House.”

Mthembu also said any MP insisting Ramaphosa had lied under oath in Parliament should submit a substantive motion via Mbete for consideration.

“Nobody, no party has done so. Therefore, all those parties who have rushed to make allegations that the president lied were grandstanding.

“They are motivated by cheap populism and politicking because such articulations are not supported by any facts that are available to all of us, including themselves.”

Mthembu denied that Ramaphosa was pushed into making the correction after the DA made an application under the Promotion of Access to Information Act to gain access to the contract for services rendered by Andile to Bosasa.

He said the president had wanted to correct his initial answer immediately when he became aware that he had not provided a correct response.

“On his own he provided a response that sought to correct a wrong answer he had given to Parliament,” he said, adding that it was human to err.