Calls for South Africa’s president to resign draw mixed reactions

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG (AA) - Growing calls for South Africa’s president to step down over money laundering allegations have been met with mixed reactions in Africa’s most economically advanced country.

Politicians and some members of the public have been calling on Cyril Ramaphosa to resign since the news broke a week ago that $4 million in cash was stolen at his farm in northern Limpopo province.

They include Julius Malema, president of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the third largest party in parliament, who said that “Money laundering is a damaging crime, and the president has broken his oath of office.”

“The only institution that had started the investigation of Ramaphosa got its head suspended,” Vuyo Zungula, president of the African Transformation Movement, said in a tweet Monday, referring to the suspension of the country’s anti-corruption chief Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane.

Last week, former spy boss Arthur Fraser filed a criminal complaint against Ramaphosa, accusing him of money laundering and not reporting the robbery at his farm.

The robbery, which took place two years ago, only came to public knowledge last week.

It has created outrage among South Africans, who question why there was so much foreign currency at the president’s farm.

Ramaphosa said the money was the proceeds from the sale of the game at his farm and not from taxpayers.

“I have never stolen taxpayers’ money. I want to reaffirm that I was not involved in any criminal conduct, and once again I pledge my full cooperation with any form of investigation,” said Ramaphosa, who is known for his tough stance on corruption.

- Dirty politics

Speaking to Anadolu Agency on Monday, leading South African lawyer Saber Ahmed Jazbhay said: “The president can step aside now, unless there’s a criminal case against him.’’

Jazbhay added that Ramaphosa has to first be charged by the integrity commission of the ruling African National Congress Party (ANC), and until then, politicians and concerned groups should wait.

He also believes that allegations against Ramaphosa are mounting ahead of the ANC’s elective conference scheduled for December.

Mametlwe Sebei, president of the General Industries Workers Union of South Africa, told Anadolu Agency that South Africans need to contextualize that the campaign calling for Ramaphosa’s removal is mainly being orchestrated by factions within the ANC and some political parties aligned with the faction.

He said the ANC faction calling for the president’s removal is allegedly associated with former President Jacob Zuma and is known as RET or the Radical Economic Transformation faction.

“It should be clearly noted that this faction has northing radical. It controlled the government for a decade and there was nothing transformative. They have done nothing to return land as Blacks remain landless. They have done nothing to advance the struggle of free education,” he said in a phone interview.

“The robbery took place on the day of an auction on a game farm, where there had been breeding of some of the most expensive animals. So there is nothing surprising that such an amount of money was stolen,” Sebei said.

He said the allegation of money laundering does not add up, as it is usually required that money be deposited in a bank in not more than seven days.

Ramaphosa, a former trade unionist turned businessman and then politician, is a renowned billionaire.