The confusion around whether President Cyril Ramaphosa will continue with his duties as head of state following the damning findings against him deepened yesterday after he could not attend a crucial ANC meeting.

Yesterday’s ANC national executive committee (NEC) was called to discuss the findings of the independent panel, which found that Ramaphosa had an impeachable case to answer in connection with the more than U.S.$500 000 (R8.7m) stolen at his Phala Phala farm.

However, the meeting had to be adjourned after it became evident that the president would not attend the gathering.

Ramaphosa did not attend

Ramaphosa’s supporters, who had arrived at the meeting with facts designed to shield him from his opponents in the party’s top leadership structure, were equally taken aback by his no-show.

Shortly before the NEC meeting’s 14:00 kick-off time yesterday, ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe, who is a known Ramaphosa ally, told journalists that Ramaphosa did not have to resign over the panel’s findings, which he described as ‘not conclusive’.

“The findings are the first part of a three-stage process. What the panel did was to merely refer the matter to the second stage where all these allegations against the president can be tested. The panel did not call any witness to test the allegations. So, it would be misleading to say the panel found the president guilty of anything.”

Addressing the media following the NEC meeting’s adjournment, the party’s acting secretary-general, Paul Mashatile, said members of the NEC directed him and the other three top ANC leaders to hold a meeting with Ramaphosa.

NEC and top ANC leaders to meet with Ramaphosa

“After the meeting with the president, we will then report to the ANC NWC [national working committee],” he said.

Another NEC meeting, Mashatile said, would then be called.

In amongst other things, the panel, which was established by Parliament, found that Ramaphosa may have violated the Constitution, broken anti-corruption laws and engaged in misconduct.

However, it was not only Ramaphosa’s backers within the ANC who were of the view that the panel’s findings were inconclusive.

The Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, was also of the view that the panel’s findings did not require that he step down. It would be unfair, Makgoba said, if Ramaphosa were to be pushed out of office on the basis of ‘preliminary findings’.

Ramaphosa’s no-show at Friday’s NEC meeting came amid speculations that he was on the verge of resigning as the country’s president.

Friday’s ANC NEC meeting was the second major event that Ramaphosa has skipped since Wednesday’s announcement of the panel’s findings. On Thursday, he cancelled a scheduled meeting of members of the National Council Of Provinces (NCOP).

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, said the president, who he claimed was currently consulting ‘various stakeholders’ around the implications of the panel’s findings, would make an announcement in ‘due course’.

While Mashatile confirmed that Ramaphosa was in consultation, he could not say who exactly the president was consulting.

“He [Ramaphosa] is in Cape Town. I don’t know who he is consulting.”

The current political developments have created uncertainty both domestically and internationally.

Since Wednesday the stocks of most of JSE-listed companies have been losing value while the rand has also dropped.

Of concern to the markets was the fact that it remained unclear who would succeed Ramaphosa should he resign. There were also concerns that Ramaphosa’s successor might deviate from the embattled president’s stance on major issues such as corruption and the need for economic reforms.

With the ANC due to hold its national elective conference in two weeks’ time, there are fears that leaders aligned to the party’s radical factions could take over control of both the party and government should Ramaphosa, who before the panel’s findings was tipped to win the ANC presidency for a second time, resign.