President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks to members of the media in Johannesburg on Sunday. Picture: Reuters/Sumaya Hisham
By Kopano Gumbi
JOHANNESBURG - President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday filed court papers challenging a report by a panel of experts that found preliminary evidence he may have committed misconduct and violated the constitution.
The announcement that Ramaphosa was taking legal action against the panel's report came moments before the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) said the party would vote in Parliament against the adoption of the panel's report.
The panel appointed by the Speaker of Parliament probed allegations that large sums of foreign currency were hidden at Ramaphosa's private game farm and he failed to report the money missing when it was stolen in 2020.
Ramaphosa has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crimes. The existence of the cash at the Phala Phala game farm and his failure to report the theft to police only surfaced in June in a scandal dubbed "Farmgate" by the media.
The president has said the money was much less than the $4 million to $8 million reported, and that it was the proceeds of game sales at the farm.
A copy of court papers filed by Ramaphosa's lawyers in the Constitutional Court showed Ramaphosa wanted the panel report "reviewed, declared unlawful and set aside".
Ramaphosa also wants any steps taken by the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, over the panel report to be declared unlawful and invalid, the papers showed.
The National Assembly is set to debate the report on Tuesday.
"The purpose of this application is to review and set aside the report," the president said in his sworn statement to the Constitutional Court.
"I submit that the panel misconceived its mandate, misjudged the information placed before it and misinterpreted the four charges advanced against me," Ramaphosa said.
ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile said after the party's NEC met on Monday that the decision to back Ramaphosa was not unanimous as there was a lot of debate, but that the party's lawmakers were expected to vote against the report in Parliament on Tuesday.
He said the NEC had weighed everything and had decided that its move was taken in the best interest of the country. He said members of the NEC had agreed "outright" that the president could challenge the report.
NOT UNANIMOUS
"Were we unanimous? No, there were a lot of debates, but we had to end somewhere, and what I am reporting is where we ended. That we will not support this report," Mashatile said.
"The president continues with his duties as president of the ANC and the Republic."
The DA meanwhile said it had submitted a motion to dissolve the National Assembly and reiterated its call for an early election.
"Ramaphosa will survive," Jakkie Cilliers, a political scientist at the Institute for Security Studies said.
"Ramaphosa, I think, is now convinced that he needs to fight on because if Ramaphosa were to stand back the damage this will do to the ANC in the 2024 elections will be substantial."
Investors fear uncertainty and that any other president could slow down or reverse economic reforms, increase government spending and take on more debt at levels they deem unsustainable.
Despite the doubts raised over Ramaphosa's integrity, he is still seen by investors at home and abroad as cleaner than any of his rivals.
"The conundrum for the ANC is that recent polls of its supporters show that President Ramaphosa remains its strongest drawcard for national elections," JP Morgan analysts said in a note to clients.
– REUTERS