The African National Congress (ANC), which is in power in South Africa, will hold its election conference in December. Important provinces have said they will support President Cyril Ramaphosa’s campaign for reelection as the party’s leader.
However, a personal scandal could result in an impeachment vote being held prior to the conference. Ramaphosa was accused of money laundering and bribing officials to conceal a February 2020 robbery at his game farm. It is alleged that US$4 million in alleged illicit cash was stolen at Phala Phala farm, in a criminal complaint brought against him on June 1, 2022 by Arthur Fraser, the former head of the national intelligence agency.
In a statement that followed, Ramaphosa acknowledged that a robbery had occurred on his Phala Phala estate but refuted any culpability. The opposition wants Ramaphosa to respond to inquiries regarding the scandal. The elite crime-fighting Hawks, the Public Protector’s office, and the South African Reserve Bank are just a few of the investigative organizations to whom the president must account. Ramaphosa once more underlined his desire for “law enforcement agencies investigating the case to be given the room to conduct their work” in August when he again declined to respond to queries in parliament about the break-in. To demand the publication of a report on the alleged heist, numerous opposition parties demonstrated in front of the office of acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka on September 9.
While the various aspects of the burglary are being investigated by law enforcement, National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has appointed an independent panel, which includes the nation’s top judge, former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, to make a preliminary determination about whether Ramaphosa should be subject to an impeachment investigation into alleged misconduct related to the burglary.The three-person panel has not yet started its evaluation, but it will have 30 days from that point to give the speaker a report. A special parliamentary committee then chooses whether to schedule a vote in parliament on impeachment if the panel recommends it.
President Ramaphosa will be ousted from office immediately if the motion has the backing of at least two-thirds of lawmakers. Ramaphosa has detractors inside the ANC, the issue has sparked a public outrage, and the impeachment process will probably be finished before the ANC’s elective conference even though the ANC still holds a majority in parliament (230 of 400 seats).
