President Cyril Ramaphosa. Photo: The Citizen/Neil McCartney
President Cyril Ramaphosa will “voluntarily” present himself to the ANC’s integrity commission following the $4 million robbery at his Limpopo farm.
The National Working Committee (NWC) met on Monday and received a briefing from the national officials regarding media reports on charges laid by former State Security Agency (SSA) director-general Arthur Fraser against Ramaphosa.
“The NWC welcomed and commended the decision by the President to voluntarily present himself to the Integrity Commission in line with ANC policy,” it said in a statement on Monday night.
“The NWC will deliberate on the matter further once it has received a report from the National Officials.”
It emerged last week that theft of over $4 million took place at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in Waterberg, Limpopo.
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Fraser had lodged a criminal complaint against the president, accusing him of breaching the Prevention of Organised Crime Act by not reporting the robbery.
The Presidency confirmed that robbery did take place on or around 9 February 2020, in which proceeds from the sale of game were stolen, but denied allegations that Ramaphosa engaged in criminal conduct.
Fraser had claimed that the suspects who broke into the president’s property were subsequently kidnapped, interrogated, and paid off to keep silent.
While the South African Police Service (Saps) is currently investigating the robbery, a number of parties – including the Democratic Alliance (DA) – have called on other institutions to also look into the matter.
The African Transformational Movement (ATM) has requested Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane to investigate whether Ramaphosa breached any of the Executive Members Ethics Act and the Code.
“Section 96 of the Constitution demands that members of the Cabinet must act in accordance with a code of ethics set out by national legislation.
“As the President is the head of the Cabinet, he is bound by the Act and the Code. In particular the ATM draws your attention to s96(2)(a) of the Constitution which prohibits members of Cabinet from undertaking any other paid work,” the ATM said in a letter to the Public Protector.
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“It is the view of the ATM that anyone with cash amounting to millions of US Dollars can only be involved in trading whose legitimacy needs to be established. Whether the trading is legit or not it constitutes paid work and thus a violation of the said section of the Constitution. Please investigate,” the party added.
The ATM further asked Mkhwebane to recommend “appropriate remedial actions” against Ramaphosa if Fraser’s charges were substantiated.
“Should you find any other transgressions that may have not be within your mandate to investigate, please do not hesitate to refer those to the authorities as you see it.”
The party also wrote to National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula requesting that Parliament establish an inquiry.
“This Inquiry would establish whether or not the alleged serious violation of the Constitution or the law and the alleged serious misconduct by the president are substantiated.
“After conducting the Inquiry, the National Assembly would be in a position to either confirm or dismiss the view held by the ATM that the prima facie evidence presented by Mr Arthur Fraser warrants a motion to remove the President in terms of section 89 of the Constitution.
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“The ATM is calling on the Honourable Speaker to establish a section 89 Committee as a matter of urgency,” ATM president Vuyo Zungula said on Monday.
Zungula indicated that the ATM would explore other legal options should the Speaker fail to respond to their letter within seven days.
“In the event the response of the Speaker is excessively delayed or is not favourable to the ATM without proffering any convincing evidence to disprove the allegations, the ATM will be compelled to explore all other lawful remedies available to the ATM,” he said.
Additional reporting by Faizel Patel and Thapelo Lekabe