( 4 minutes read)
· South Africa’s top court yesterday (Thursday) cleared President Cyril Ramaphosa of lying to parliament about a donation to his 2017 election campaign,
· By virtue of this, the top court quashed a critical report by the country’s ombudswoman
· The Constitutional Court held that Public Protector was wrong on the facts and on the law with regard to the issue that the president had willfully misled parliament.
South Africa’s top court yesterday (Thursday) cleared President Cyril Ramaphosa of lying to parliament about a donation to his 2017 election campaign, By virtue of this, the top court quashed a critical report by the country’s ombudswoman.
Public protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane in 2019 charged that that Ramaphosa had deliberately misled the National Assembly in his response to a question posed by an opposition lawmaker the previous year. She also alleged there was evidence of money laundering, conflict of interest and personal enrichment — prompting the president to challenge the legality of her report. The High Court dismissed the report last year. The Constitutional Court on Thursday upheld the decision of the High Court.
The Constitutional Court held that Public Protector was wrong on the facts and on the law with regard to the issue that the president had willfully misled parliament. The court also maintained that there was no evidence to support money-laundering allegations or to show the president had personally benefitted from campaign donations. The court said that private affairs of political parties were outside Mkhwebane’s jurisdiction.
The allegations date back to November 2018, when the then leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance party, Mmusi Maimane, asked Ramaphosa to explain a 500,000 rand ($35,000) payment to his son from the head of the African Global Operations (AGO),a South African company. Ramaphosa clarified that his son, Andile Ramaphosa, had
carried out paid work for the company. However, one week later, Ramaphosa wrote to the National Assembly to correct his response, explaining the payment was in fact a donation to his electoral campaign to succeed ex-president Jacob Zuma as head of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party.
This led to the Public Protector launching an investigation into the matter. Ramaphosa came to power on a promise to crack down on rampant corruption carried out under Zuma’s administration. An indictment of the President based on the prosecutor’s report would have been a significant setback.
The next national elections in South Africa are due in 2024. The head of state is elected indirectly through parliament, which has been dominated by the ANC since the advent of democracy in 1994.
