By Agencies
South Africa: Public Protector Busiswe Mkhwebane has released a stunning report claiming she has evidence that proves President Cyril Ramaphosa misled Parliament.
South African Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane on 18 July revealed her office is in possession of evidence that proves President Cyril Ramaphosa lied to Parliament about a R500 000 campaign donation.
The issue around the payment stems from a response Ramaphosa made in Parliament in November 2018 when he said the money was a payment to his son for services rendered.
He later corrected himself as it came to light the R500 000 was a campaign donation.
Misled Parliament
Mkhwebane claims this was no
accident, but a deliberate misdirection on behalf of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“I therefore find President Ramaphosa’s failure to disclose financial interest
which accrued to him, as a result of the donations received towards the CR17
campaign to be in violation of paragraph 2 of the Executive Ethics Code, and
accordingly amounts to conduct that is inconsistent with his office as a member
of Cabinet, as contemplate by section 96 of the Consitution,” the Public
Protectors report read.
Violated the constitution
If this is proven to be true,
Ramaphosa would indeed have breached the Executive Ethics Code by not
disclosing interests of a financial nature to the National Assembly or
Parliament.
“I therefore find President Ramaphosa’s conduct as referred to above, although
ostensibly in good faith, to be inconsistent with his office as a member of
cabinet and therefore in violation of section 96(1) of the Constitution,” her
report found.
The Ramaphosa-Bosasa story so far
- In November 2018 Cyril Ramaphosa’s son denied a R500 000 payment from Bosasa benefited him directly
- Later the same month, Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson revealed a payment was made but claimed it was a campaign donation to Ramaphosa’s bid for the Presidency
- Investigations into the matter found attempts to hide the identity of the donor, leading to suspicions of money laundering
- In early July 2019, Ramaphosa Jnr, in an exclusive interview with News24, confirmed his relationship with Bosasa had been much closer than originally stated. In fact, he had been paid around R2 million by the company since February 2018.
- In mid-July 2019, the Public Protector claimed she has evidence that proves President Ramaphosa deliberately misled Parliament and therefore violate both the Executive Ethics Code and the Consitution of South Africa.
