Cape Town – President Cyril Ramaphosa has maintained his innocence in the ongoing “cash and cushions” scandal”, reiterating his denial of any wrongdoing despite damning findings made by the section 89 panel of experts.
Ramaphosa is facing renewed pressure after the panel probing a burglary scandal at his farm said on Wednesday it found enough evidence to warrant a parliamentary debate on whether he should be impeached.
Parliament is set to examine the report and decide whether to push ahead with impeachment proceedings next week, only days before Ramaphosa faces a crucial internal party election.
The three-person panel set up in September to probe the alleged cover-up of a theft at Ramaphosa’s farmhouse wrote in its conclusions that the information it gathered “discloses… that the president may have committed” serious violations and misconduct.
In a statement, however, Ramaphosa reiterated what he said in his submission to the independent panel.
The Presidency has noted the report submitted to the Speaker of the National Assembly by the independent panel established in terms of Section 89 of the Constitution. https://t.co/j6L26sGrgW
— Presidency | South Africa ?? (@PresidencyZA) November 30, 2022
It alleged that Ramaphosa had hidden a burglary at his farm at Phala Phala in northeastern South Africa from the authorities.
Instead, he allegedly organised for the robbers to be kidnapped and bribed into silence.
The president has denied this, and laid out his position at length in the 138-page submission that was leaked on Wednesday.
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“I did not ‘hunt’ for the perpetrators of the theft, as alleged, nor did I give any instructions for this to take place,” he wrote.
Ramaphosa said $580 000 in cash was stolen from beneath sofa cushions at his ranch.
The sum was payment made by a Sudanese citizen who had bought buffaloes.
Staff at the farm initially locked the money in an office safe, Ramaphosa said.
But the lodge manager then decided that the “safest place” to store it would be under the cushions of a sofa inside Ramaphosa’s residence at the farm, he said.
Ramaphosa told the inquiry that the accusations against him were “without any merit” and asked it not to take the matter “any further”.
But his request was rebuffed.
“This is a defining moment for our constitutional democracy and must not be taken lightly,” Siviwe Gwarube, the chief whip of the opposition Democratic Alliance party, said in a statement.
“The panel makes some serious findings against the president … These are grounds for impeachment proceedings.”
Ramaphosa came to power in 2018 on a promise to root out graft after the corruption-stained era of his former boss, Jacob Zuma.
He faces elections on December 16 in his bid for a second term as president of the deeply-factionalised African National Congress party.
That position, as head of the dominant party in parliament, is also key to his survival as the country’s president.
Ramaphosa is facing a challenge from Zweli Mkhize, 66, an ex-health minister who resigned from government last year amid graft allegations.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
Additional information by AFP
