Ramaphosa: The fight against corruption is gathering steam

As President Cyril Ramaphosa himself faces allegations of corruption, he decided to choose this as the topic for his weekly newsletter.

RAMAPHOSA SAID THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION IS GATHERING STEAM

In the newsletter, he said they have been working hard for the past five years to end the looting of resources meant for the benefit of South Africa‘s people, to prosecute those responsible, and to recover stolen funds.

“When we embarked on this journey, we understood that the results would not be felt overnight.

“We first had to rebuild state institutions that had been deliberately weakened, emptied of expertise and rendered incapable of preventing capture by criminal elements. We had to strengthen law enforcement institutions and shield them from outside interference.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa

Ramaphosa furthermore said one of the most important steps they took was to establish, in 2019, the Investigating Directorate in the NPA to deal with cases emanating from the state capture commission and other corruption-related offences.

THE INVESTIGATING DIRECTORATE WILL BE MADE PERMANENT

“We recently announced plans to make the Investigating Directorate a permanent structure.

“We are now seeing the results of this work. The fight against state capture and corruption is gaining momentum.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa

This comes days after the Presidency confirmed that Ramaphosa is leaning towards challenging the findings of Section 89 Independent Panel.

Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said Ramaphosa has decided to take the S89 panel report on review.

RAMAPHOSA WILL BE CHALLENGING THE S89 PANEL REPORT

“It is in the long-term interest and sustainability of our constitutional democracy, well beyond the Ramaphosa Presidency, that such a clearly flawed report is challenged, especially when it’s being used as a point of reference to remove a sitting Head of State.”

Ramaphosa’s allies in the cabinet tried to convince him that the Section 89 panel report was flimsy and could be fought politically on Friday.

This comes after the President was ready to resign from office on Thursday after the Section 89 panel found Ramaphosa may have contravened the Constitution and anti-corruption laws with his dealings at Phala Phala.

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The country’s former spy boss, Arthur Fraser, opened a criminal case against the President for the burglary of millions of rands that happened at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm in early 2020.

Fraser alleged that thieves stole millions of rands in US dollars from Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm in 2020.

THIS COMES AFTER A SECTION 89 PANEL FOUND THAT HE MAY HAVE CONTRAVENED LAWS

He furthermore said the President failed to report the matter to the relevant authorities but instead called on the police members close to him to investigate the matter secretly.

In Ramaphosa’s affidavit to the independent panel, he said $580 000 found its way to the game farm through a sale of buffaloes to a Sudanese businessman Mustafa Hazim.

The President said his farm and lodge manager, a Mr. Ndlovu, first stored the money in a safe in the Bayeto Centre Office.

However, he later moved the cash from the Bayeto Centre because he “was concerned that several staff members had access to the safe.”

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MILLIONS OF RANDS IN US DOLLARS WERE STOLEN FROM RAMAPHOSA’S PHALA PHALA GAME FARM

The president said Ndlovu thought the safest place to store the money was in the President’s private residence on the farm.

“He stored the money below cushions of a sofa in a spare bedroom that is hardly ever used, inside my private residence, because he thought it was the safest place, as he believed nobody would break into the president’s house.”Report

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IF THE REPORT IS PASSED, HE WILL FACE AN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

The Ngcobo report confirmed the suspicions and found Ramaphosa had to answer the case for possible impeachment.

The National Assembly will consider the report on 6 December. If it is passed, the President will face an impeachment inquiry.