President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is currently battling the Phala Phala farm robbery scandal, over the weekend survived attempts by his opponents in the ANC to have him removed as party leader ahead of the crucial ANC elective conference.

During a heated ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting which started on Friday and closed on Sunday, Ramaphosa’s opponents — who argued that the Phala Phala scandal has tarnished the image of the party — pushed for his removal.

Ramaphosa urged to step aside

Led by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who is Ramaphosa’s rival in the ANC presidential race, the president’s opponents urged him to ‘step aside’.

Ramaphosa, who is facing a probe by various bodies, including the Public Protector, has not denied that the thousands of US dollars stolen from his farm in 2020 was hidden in mattresses.

The president, according to sources in the NEC, told the meeting that the money was for the sale of animals at his Phala Phala farm.

However, Dlamini-Zuma, who was supported by ANC NEC members such as Tony Yengeni, is said to have questioned why if the money was for genuine farm business activities, it was hidden in mattresses.

Ramaphosa insists he did nothing wrong

Ramaphosa, who sought to disarm his opponents by including the Phala Phala scandal matter in his opening speech to the ANC NEC meeting, insisted that he had done nothing wrong.

“He told them that it was not him who hid the money, and that he was not at the farm when one of the buyers of the animals brought the cash to the farm. On why the robbery was not immediately reported to the police, he told them that he had reported the matter to members of the SAPS who are part of the Presidential Protection Unit with the hope that they would initiate the necessary process to have the matter investigated.”

Integrity commission tables Phala Phala saga report

The meeting also saw the ANC’s integrity commission, which is tasked with the enforcement of the party’s step-aside policy, tabling its report on the Phala Phala saga.

The commission has the powers to recommend that Ramaphosa should step down from his position.

While sources pointed out that the integrity commission report did not exonerate Ramaphosa, they said the report also did not hold him responsible for the damage which the scandal inflicted on the ANC.

“Since there were a number of actors involved in the Phala Phala matter, including the president’s protectors, the farm workers and Arthur Fraser (the former State Security Agency head) who is an ANC member who opened the criminal case against the president, it was difficult for the commission to blame him for the Phala Phala matter,” an ANC NEC member said.

While failure by Ramaphosa opponents in the ANC NEC to have the body, which is the highest decision-making body between conferences, resolve that he should step down is seen as a victory for the president, he could still be removed from his position before the December conference.

An independent panel appointed by Parliament to investigate whether there are grounds for the National Assembly to initiate impeachment proceedings against Ramaphosa in light of the Phala Phala farm scandal is due to submit its report to Parliament this week.

Should the panel’s report recommend that Parliament should initiate impeachment processes against Ramaphosa, the ANC integrity commission could be forced to ask him to step aside pending the finalisation of the impeachment processes.