Cyril Ramaphosa delivers a speech to the nation – Photo: GovernmentZA / Flickr
Cyril Ramaphosa delivers a speech to the nation – Photo: GovernmentZA / Flickr
During Cyril Ramaphosa’s hour of misery, the EFF have arrived in a timely fashion. His CR17 campaign – which earned him the right to lead the ANC and eventually become president – has been the subject of intense scrutiny from Busisiwe Mkhwebane, who is now being accused of illegally obtaining the information.
In a statement made late on Saturday, the presidency said Ramaphosa had been made aware that confidential banking information of his campaign contributors had been leaked to the media. It’s understood the head of state will seek court action to investigate how Mkhwebane managed to get inside the bank accounts belonging to the president:
“The information, supposedly held only by the Public Protector, includes bank statements of third parties, which record private transactions and which are strictly confidential. This amounts to a violation of the constitutionally enshrined right to privacy. Neither the President nor the campaign has done anything wrong, ethically or legally.”
Statement from the office of Cyril Ramaphosa
Ramaphosa was boosted by a victory in court against Busisiwe Mkhwebane last week, regarding the recommended remedial action against Pravin Gordhan. However, his joy seems to have been short-lived, as some rather conspicuous names have been linked to CR17 through a Sunday Independent report. These include:
ABSA Nation Building put R10 million towards CR17, and two Eskom executives – one past and one present – put a combined R1.8 million into Ramaphosa leadership campaign. Andre Crawford-Brunt, a board member of Sygnia, was also a big backer – he put R2 million into the kitty.
Needless to say, the lavish funding hasn’t escaped the attention of the EFF. The red berets have been utilising their Twitter platform to nail Cyril Ramaphosa and his friends in high places. Party Deputy President Floyd Shivambu said that the leaked information proved Ramaphosa was nothing more than a ‘puppet’ for outside influences.
“None of the funders look like the majority of members of the party they hypnotized through cash. Clearly, the white capitalist establishment has rented a president to the erstwhile liberation movement. And most definitely, this is no free later lunch!”
Floyd Shivambu
Meanwhile, EFF Spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi lambasted Cyril and his donor lists through a series of Tweets, hammering the president for showing that he holds “zero integrity” in his current position.
What the #RamaphosaLeaks demonstrate is a conflicted President with ZERO integrity! Period! pic.twitter.com/4PO9Dlemuq
— Mbuyiseni Ndlozi (@MbuyiseniNdlozi) August 11, 2019