Ramaphosa's ties to Maumela: Neighbour alleges multiple visits during investigation

A neighbour from the exclusive Sandton street where Hangwani Maumela's home was raided by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) last week, in connection with the R2 billion Tembisa Hospital scandal, has claimed that President Cyril Ramaphosa frequently visits the property.

During a question and answer session in Parliament on Tuesday, Ramaphosa acknowledged knowing Maumela, contradicting his earlier statements in which he denied ever meeting him.

This relationship has previously been questioned; in 2022, DA leader John Steenhuisen confronted the president about it, to which Ramaphosa denied any connection.

At the weekend Ramaphosa's spokesperson Vincent Magwenya, after video footage emerged of Ramaphosa outside Maumela's home, said Ramaphosa did not know him and that this was a coincidence - a claim Magwenya repeated during a media briefing on Monday.

But on Tuesday Ramaphosa explained that while walking in his neighbourhood, he met Maumela outside Maumela's house in 2023 and 2024.

“I often meet people and ask who they are."

He said, ‘I am Hangwani Maumela.’ I said, ‘So you are the Maumela who is putting my name into disrepute.’ He smiled. I walked away from home.”

Ramaphosa further elaborated on a more personal connection, explaining that his first wife was Maumela's aunt, a marriage that ended 43 years ago. 

He also recounted an encounter with Maumela's mother, Mboneni Maumela, whom he knew from school.

A neighbour in the affluent area, on Thursday said that Maumela’s house was a frequent stop on Ramaphosa’s walks.

"It was not the first time Ramaphosa stopped at Maumela’s gate during his walks.”

Magwenya, did not respond to numerous calls and messages to comment on the claim that Ramaphosa was a frequent visitor to Maumela's home.

The SIU has identified Maumela as the primary beneficiary of a syndicate tied to 1,728 procurement bundles worth R816 million, involving 41 suppliers.

Last week the SIU used a convoy of removal trucks to remove Maumela's fleet of luxury cars, including three Lamborghinis, each worth several million rands, from his three-story house.

The SIU investigation which spanned 2018 to 2023, revealed a sprawling network of corruption, maladministration and procurement fraud at Tembisa Hospital, involving three major syndicates responsible for looting more than R2 billion of public funds.

The interim report on the investigation into corruption at the hospital, recently released by SIU head Andy Mothibi, exposed how colluding officials and service providers exploited and circumvented procurement controls.

The investigation followed Deokaran's assassination and highlights urgent calls for systemic reform, stronger protections for whistleblowers and dire accountability measures within Tembisa Hospital and the Gauteng Department of Health.

Political analyst Zakhele Ndlovu said Ramaphosa was being “economical with the truth” and “insulting the intelligence of the public".

Ndlovu found it inconceivable that Ramaphosa, with his access to intelligence services, would not have known about Maumela’s high-profile and flamboyant lifestyle, especially given the house’s prominence on his walking route.

Another political analyst, Sipho Seepe, said the more Ramaphosa tried to explain his relationship, or the lack thereof with Hangwani Maumela, "the more ridiculous he sounds".

Seepe questioned the effectiveness of presidential security, arguing they would be required to know the identities of neighbours, especially those related to the president.

“Being related to a criminal does not make you one. Ramaphosa didn’t have to pretend not to know who Maumela was or is."

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