Cape Town – President Cyril Ramaphosa was on Sunday excused from attending the ANC’s national working committee (NWC) meeting under way in Nasrec in the south of Johannesburg.
The ruling party was deliberating over the Section 89 panel report on the Phala Phala farm saga ahead of the reconvening of its special National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on Monday.
Speaking to the media soon after being recused from attending the meeting, Ramaphosa said:
“I have just attended the NWC meeting, and I have been recused, since they are going to discuss the panel’s report and, as our own experience, history and tradition, it is always best when the matter affects a person personally (that it) should be discussed in their absence.
President #CyrilRamaphosa has been recused from the #ANC #NWC meeting where the independent panel’s report on #PhalaPhalaFarmgate is being discussed. #PhalaPhala #Farmgate
Video: @nntombi_nkosi / @TheStar_news pic.twitter.com/l9PnXAtxu7— The Star (@TheStar_news) December 4, 2022
“That is precisely what led to my recusal to enable members of the NWC to have a thoroughgoing discussion on the report without my presence, so that they can be free to express themselves as openly as possible without any fear or favour,” Ramaphosa said.
He continued: “It is up to the NEC, to which I am accountable, to take any further decision. That is all I have to say about this matter.”
Pressure mounted this week for Ramaphosa to quit or be forced from office over the burglary of more than half a million dollars in cash from his farm, which he allegedly covered up.
On Wednesday, a three-member parliamentary panel, including a former chief justice of the country’s highest court Sandile Ngcobo, said Ramaphosa “may have committed” acts contrary to the law and the constitution, paving the way for impeachment proceedings.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
