Ramaphosa dodges questions on Nene, says he is “hard of hearing”

President Cyril Ramaphosa deflected questions regarding the future of embattled Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene during an unveiling ceremony earlier on Tuesday.

It’s been reported that Nene requested that the president relieve him of his ministerial duties, as a result of his misconduct regarding meetings with the Gupta family. These dubious meetings were revealed last week, during Nene’s explosive testimony before the Commission of Inquiry Into State Capture.

Nene was caught in a lie after previously stating that he had only met the Guptas in passing, when, in fact, he had met with them on at least six separate occasions between 2010 and 2015. The public outcry regarding the issue of state capture has made Nene’s untruthfulness that much worse.

President Ramaphosa deflects questions regarding Nene’s fate

As reported by Sowetan Live, President Ramaphosa slyly deflected questions posed to him during a ceremony to unveil a presidential commemorative stamp as part of the South African Post Office’s World Post Day celebrations at his Cape Town office of Tuynhuys.

Journalists attending the event were uninterested in the commemorative stamp and immediately questioned the president on the future of Finance Minister Nene – up until now the Ramaphosa has been especially mum on the topic.

And while media representatives were hoping for some answers regarding the scandal, they were met with a classic deflection by Ramaphosa, who said:

“I am a bit hard of hearing these days. I actually have to go to an ear (specialist). Thank you very much.”

The president’s response, the very definition of an anti-climax, left journalists frustrated and none the wiser on the issue of Nene’s fate.

Ramaphosa expected to announce Nene’s fate soon

While Ramaphosa was clearly not comfortable answering questions earlier in the day, his spokesperson, Khusela Diko, has revealed that the president would be making a public announcement regarding the Nene debacle ‘soon’.

Diko confirmed that the president had been in talks with Nene regarding the issue of the latter’s resignation from office, saying:

“I can confirm that he has been in engagement with Mr Nene and I can also confirm that there has been correspondence that has been exchanged between them and they have spoken on the phone… so they have had ongoing conversations.

The president has put it on record that he is concerned about the uncertainty in the markets regarding this matter. He has also said that it is important that he affirms his commitment on the project of economic recovery and stability and because of that he is still to apply his mind with the issues he has discussed with Minister Nene.”