Foreign
A three-member panel set up to investigate the millions of dollars discovered in Cyril Ramaphosa’s private farm on Wednesday submitted its report to the parliament amid the impeachment saga.
In June, it emerged that an estimated four million dollars were robbed at the farm back in 2020, raising questions about how the billionaire president, who took to power on the promise to fight graft, acquired the cash and whether he declared it.
The panel, formed in September, sought to find any preliminary evidence of wrongdoing by the president. Its conclusions are expected to be released later in the day.
While Ramaphosa has confirmed that a robbery occurred, he said the cash was from proceeds from the sales of the game.
He has denied breaking the law or any regulations relating to his office.
The timing of the scandal could hardly be worse as the president is less than a month away from an elective conference that will decide if he gets to run for a second term on the governing African National Congress’s (ANC) ticket at 2024 polls.
Ramaphosa, however, remains a clear favourite to win at the Dec. 16-20 conference.
The former chief justice and panel chairman Sandile Ngcobo said at the handover of the recommendations that “dragging the president before an impeachment process is a huge decision, it cannot be done on flimsy (grounds), it has to be something tangible.’’
The chances of impeachment are slim given the ANC’s dominance of parliament, where it holds 230 seats, or nearly 60 per cent of the total, and typically votes along party lines.
Impeaching a president requires a two-thirds majority.
The inquiry is separate from a criminal investigation that police are conducting, and which Ramaphosa has welcomed.
The Speaker of Parliament, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said the report will be debated in the national assembly on Dec. 6. (Reuters/NAN)
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Tags: Cyril Ramaphosa Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula Sandile Ngcobo
