Emmanuel Ukudolo l Friday, December 2, 2022
LAGOS, Nigeria – President of South Africa, Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa is at a crossroad, following the release of Section 89 of the Phala Phala Farm report to parliament which made it clear that there is prima facie evidence that the President may have committed a serious violation of the Constitution, law, and serious misconduct.
This follows confirmation by the South African Police Service (SAPS) that the former State Security Agency (SSA) Director-General Arthur Fraser opened criminal charges against President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Rosebank Police Station in Johannesburg.
The charges according to Fraser emanate from the theft of over $4 million by robbers in February 2020, in collusion with a domestic worker, at the President’s Phala Phala farm in Waterberg, Limpopo.
Besides the theft, Fraser alleges that Ramaphosa was involved in defeating the ends of justice, kidnapping of suspects, interrogating and bribing them and thereafter concealing the crime from the police.
Police spokesperson Colonel Athlenda Mathe confirmed that a case of money laundering, defeating the ends of justice and kidnapping has been registered at the Rosebank Police Station.
Under South African law, the President, who is not authorized to engage in any other business is required to report such a humongous theft at his farm to the police.
President Ramaphosa didn’t do that, now the report says he is culpable, while many South Africans are saying that the president has lost the moral right to continue and should therefore resign.
The African Transformation Movement (ATM) and the Freedom Front Plus have reiterated their calls that Ramaphosa has no option but to resign.
While the tension is palpable, Presidential Spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, said Ramaphosa will make an announcement on the report. He was expected to address the nation last night but that did not happen.
His spokesman said President Cyril Ramaphosa is consulting key stakeholders over the recommendations of the Section 89 Panel report.
Nevertheless, South Africans still look forward to hear from him. Will he resign or sit tight and wait for the African National Congress, ANC to turn their back on him?
So far, Ramaphosa is said to have cancelled all government engagements to attend to the report due to its seriousness.
Ramaphosa wrote to the chairperson of the NCOP, Amos Masondo, informing him that he needed to take time to consider the contents of the report.
In his letter, Ramaphosa says this report is unprecedented in the life of the constitutional democracy and that he wants to attend to it.
Ramaphosa has also postponed the Venezulan President Nicolas Maduro’s state visit to South Africa, which was scheduled to start on the sixth of this month when Parliament is expected to debate the report.
