Cape Town – Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to immediately step aside to allow transparent investigations to occur after being embroiled in a growing scandal centred on the theft of cash from his sprawling cattle farm.
Malema said this during a media briefing on Tuesday.
“Fellow South Africans we’ve given Ramaphosa a chance to prove himself. He has dismally failed. We will treat him the same way we have treated Zuma. He must leave the office with immediate effect because he has not respected his oath of office. Everywhere and anywhere where we find Ramaphosa or we see Ramaphosa and we have an opportunity to stop him from speaking in the name of South Africa we will do so.
“We call upon all the fighters and the ground forces to start treating Ramaphosa as such. We will start on Thursday and it will be a way-waya until he lets go of that office. That office must be occupied by a man of integrity, not hypocrisy, not a man with double personalities – in front of cameras he’s something else, behind cameras he’s buying the silence of girls not to speak, we will not allow that. We will not allow a president who leaves a double life,” said Malema.
[MUST WATCH]: CIC @Julius_S_Malema says we have given Ramaphosa a chance, now it’s time to treat him the way we treated Jacob Zuma. He calls on Ramaphosa to leave his office because he has not respected his oath of office. #EFFPresser pic.twitter.com/SEa28rqJRt
— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) June 7, 2022
Since last week, Ramaphosa, 69, has been weakened by accusations that he was complicit in buying the silence of burglars who stumbled on large sums of money at one of his properties, AFP reported.
The case began in February 2020, according to the complaint filed last week at a Johannesburg police station by former South African intelligence chief Arthur Fraser.
Robbers allegedly broke into Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in the northeast of the country where they found $4 million in cash hidden in furniture.
ALSO READ: Cyril Ramaphosa to testify over farm theft scandal
Ramaphosa himself has disputed the sum of money in question, but accepted that he buys and sells animals “sometimes through cash sometimes through transfers”.
“I’ve never stolen money from anywhere and I will never do so. I have never stolen from taxpayers,” Ramaphosa added.
The case accuses Ramaphosa of concealing the theft from police and the tax authorities.
It sensationally alleges that the president then “paid” the burglars “for their silence”.
Fraser, who said he provided police with “photos, bank accounts, names and videos”, accused Ramaphosa of obstruction of justice and organising for the suspects to be kidnapped, interrogated on his property and paid off.
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Picture: Twitter/ @EFFSouthAfrica
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Compiled by Sinothando Siyolo
Additional reporting AFP
