South Africa’s Ramaphosa refuses to resign after reinstatement of impeachment proceedings

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa ruled out resigning on Monday and said he would mount a legal challenge to impeachment proceedings against him in court over a $4 million cash-heist scandal.

The case resurfaced last week after a court decision overturned the rejection of a 2022 parliamentary report which concluded that Ramaphosa “may have committed” serious violations and misconduct.

The 73-year-old head of state was accused of hiding from police and tax authorities a 2020 break-in and theft of large sums of foreign currency allegedly stashed in furniture at his luxury Phala Phala farmhouse in the northern Limpopo province.

In a televised speech, Ramaphosa said there was nothing in Friday’s Constitutional Court ruling that justified impeachment or his removal from office.

“I therefore respectfully want to make it clear that I will not resign,” he said, adding that if he did, it would “give credence” to the “flawed” parliamentary report.

“I remain here and am not resigning,” he said.

An independent panel said Ramaphosa “may have committed” serious violations and misconduct in relation to the break-in.

But parliament, then controlled by his African National Congress (ANC) party, declined in 2022 to open impeachment proceedings that could have forced him from office.

The Constitutional Court ordered that the panel’s report be referred to an impeachment committee, in response to a complaint lodged by the radical left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party.

The ANC has been shedding support over unmet policy pledges and persistent accusations of corruption and weak governance, ahead of municipal elections on November 4.

Ramaphosa, whose office last week said it “noted” and respected the court judgment, said in his speech that he had been advised to seek a legal review of the panel’s report.

It would examine possible “misconception of its mandate, grave errors of law, and unfounded conclusions of facts”, he added.

Ramaphosa, a former anti-apartheid activist turned businessman before entering politics, has denied wrongdoing in the scandal.

He has acknowledged the burglary but denied claims by a former intelligence chief that he had the thieves abducted in an attempt to cover it up.

He has said he reported the break-in to the police and explained that the money came from the sale of 20 buffalo for $580,000.

AFP

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