Will Ramaphosa meet deadline to answer questions over leaked audio ahead of Sona?

Thursday is the deadline for President Cyril Ramaphosa to submit his answers regarding allegations of public funds being used for ANC campaigns ahead of the State of the Nation Address (Sona) this evening.

The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) last month resolved to give Ramaphosa 10 days to account for remarks he made in a leaked audio recording.

This relates to public funds being utilised for political campaigns during the ANC’s 2017 Nasrec elective conference.

Scopa

Speaking to Newzroom Afrika outside of the Cape Town City Hall, Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa confirmed that the 10 days was now over for Ramaphosa.

“With the issue of the president and the recording, we have sent a set of questions which he must respond to. His deadline is today,” he said on Thursday.

Hlengwa pointed out that Scopa still reserved its right to invite Ramaphosa to appear before the committee to provide more information if it is not satisfied with the president’s responses.

The Scopa chair insisted yet again that the committee will carry on with its work without any political influence.

“I want to fundamentally stress [that] the committee is pursuing due process. We will not allow a situation to be drawn into factional [battles],” Hlengwa said.

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He further said: “What we are interested in is the president makes an assertion [that] public funds were used for political party activities.

“That’s what we are interested in because we need the information that the president has in order for us to strengthen the work of the AG [auditor-general], but also to strengthen the work of oversight and accountability to ensure that, that kind of criminal action does not continue.”

According to a legal opinion penned by chief parliamentary legal adviser, advocate Zuraya Adhikarie, Scopa has the mandate to probe Ramaphosa’s remarks “if, indeed, public funds of any government department or public entity had been utilised for unauthorised purposes”.

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Public protector probe

ANC MP and Scopa whip Mervyn Dirks wrote to Scopa requesting the committee to summon Ramaphosa to answer questions over the allegations.

Dirks – who was suspended and is facing disciplinary proceedings – also laid a complaint with the Office of the Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, to investigate the matter.

In a statement, Mkhwebane’s spokesperson Oupa Segalwe confirmed that the public protector will investigate the alleged breach of the Executive Code of Ethics against Ramaphosa after it received the complaint.

Segalwe further indicated the investigation would be completed within 30 days, in line with the Executive Members Ethics Act 82 of 1998 (EMEA).

‘Fall on the sword’

In the leaked audio recording, Ramaphosa is heard saying he was “willing to fall on the sword” to protect the ANC, instead of revealing the names of party members who had allegedly used public funds for their political campaigns.

“I would rather they say, ‘yes, you got money from this businessman for CR17 than for the public to finally hear that their money was used to advance certain campaigns’,” he said during a meeting of the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC).

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ANC’s head of the Presidency, Sibongile Besani, confirmed that the leaked recording was authentic.

However, he dismissed suggestions that Ramaphosa was attempting to shield party members by covering up information on corruption.

Besani indicated during an interview on eNCA that the issues that emerged in the recording were already in the public domain, adding that the full context of the audio was needed to understand what the president was saying.

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