Ramaphosa hits back at Mkhwebane: ‘We reaffirm honest governance’

The presidency has welcomed the findings that Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane was found to be mistaken in her investigation into President Cyril Ramaphosa’s CR17 campaign. 

On Tuesday 10 March, the Pretoria High Court reached a verdict that Ramaphosa had indeed not misled Parliament or acted out of the constitution, as Mkhwebane had claimed. 

“The court reaffirmed the president’s assertion that there was no factual basis for the public protector’s findings that the president misled Parliament in relation to a donation made to the CR17 campaign from Gavin Watson of African Global Operations,” said the presidency in a statement.  

Court finds Mkhwebane to be unlawful 

The Court further found that:

• The public protector had no jurisdiction to investigate the CR17 campaign;
• The president was not obliged to make disclosure of the donations received by the CR17 campaign; and
• The public protector had no foundation in fact and in law to arrive at the conclusion that the president had involved himself in unlawful activities. 

“The presidency welcomes the settlement of this matter and reaffirms its commitment to honest and effective governance,” it added. 

Mkhwebane’s report finds Ramaphosa ‘guilty’ 

In her report, Mkhwebane found that Ramaphosa had misled Parliament, violated the executive ethics code and acted inconsistently with his office in relation to R500 000 donated in 2017, by the late Bosasa boss Gavin Watson, to Ramaphosa’s ANC presidential campaign.

Exchanges between Ramaphosa and Mkhwebane’s respective councils became catty at the North Gauteng High Court. 

Advocate Wim Trengove, said that Mkhwebane’s assertions amounted to “an extraordinary mistake of the law” and said that her investigation into the president’s conduct was unlawful. 

“There’s no evidence that the president deliberately misled parliament… it’s hard to understand how a lawyer can misread the text of law,” Trengove argued.

Mkhwebane council, Advocate Muzi Sikhakhane in response said: 

“We have not accused the president of taking any money, I want to ask this court to interpret state affairs to include a man or a woman who’s getting funding in order to be at the helm of the state,” he said.  

“The fact of the matter is that President Cyril Ramaphosa benefitted from this campaign in becoming president. The submissions that the president did not mislead Parliament are false,” he added.