“What’s there to hide?”: Ramph

“What’s there to hide?”: Ramphele declares net worth and calls on Zuma to do same

Leader of newly formed opposition party Agang, Mamphele Ramphele has made clear her party’s stance on corruption and calls upon South Africa’s leader, President Jacob Zuma, to declare his assets after persistent accusations of corruption and embezzlement of public funds.

“What’s there to hide?”: Ramph

Ramphele crop (Medium)At a media conference in Johannesburg on Wednesday, Mamphela Ramphele, the academic and businesswoman who formed opposition party Agang earlier this year, publicly declared her assets and called on President Jacob Zuma to do the same.

Ramphele declared her own net worth, hoping to spark a trend amongst leaders who would prove their integrity by following suit. In June, she was worth more than R55 million.

She said that this included property, pensions, family and investment trusts, and shareholdings in Anglo American and Gold Fields.

Stating, “Leaders must earn the trust of the people to vote for them by showing that they do not steal public money”, Ramphele drew attention to claims that Zuma had stolen public funds for the redevelopment of his properties. Estimated that this has cost the taxpayer R200 million, is has revived interest in the corruption accusations made against him in 2009 but subsequently dropped.

Due to contest the general elections of 2014, Agang have promised that they will work to create a country free of governmental corruption, including banning nepotistic business deals between the families of officials working with the state.

“Agang is waging a war on corruption. Let us kick these corrupt leaders out of government,”Ramphele said.

“I call on President Zuma to disclose his finances immediately. What is there to hide?”

ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu called Ramphele’s disclosure a “show-off stunt that does not assist the poor nor the fight against corruption”.

He denied that there was any justification for her comments about the honesty of President Zuma: â€œThese remarks by Dr Ramphele are not only nothing new but are clearly based on ignorance of the legal framework created and implemented by our democratic dispensation,” he said.

Mthembu said that the legal framework compels politicians to declare their finances annually, including President Zuma, and that the South African Revenue Service “enjoins all South Africans, including leaders of political parties, to declare their financial interest annually”.

However, unlike other politicians, Zuma’s declaration would not be made public, meaning that there was more opportunity for exploitation.

Zuma’s spokesman Mac Maharaj said that the president had acknowledged Ramphele’s calls on him to declare his finances.