Cape Town - Under- fire President Cyril Ramaphosa pulled out at the 11th hour from a much-anticipated address to the nation in what was expected to be his resignation last night, to continue consulting with various “interested parties,” including the ANC and its alliance partners.
He is under unprecedented pressure to resign or provide more details on why the Section 89 independent panel found that there was prima facie evidence of serious misconduct against him over the foreign currency that was held at his property.
In a day of high drama, Ramaphosa was due to hold an evening “family meeting” but this was postponed, with his spokesperson Vincent Magwenya saying the president was still consulting.
An ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting that was scheduled for last night has been postponed to Friday.
Ramaphosa postponed a question-and-answer session in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) where he would have faced a barrage from opposition benches and his planned international trips.
He is said to have been locked in meetings with his allies in Cape Town on Thursday.
There was intense speculation that Ramaphosa was poised to resign or that the NEC would recall the president after the panel found that there was prima facie evidence that he may have violated the Constitution.
Political commentator, researcher and human rights activist Nkosikhulule Nyembezi said the report could be the final nail in the coffin for Ramaphosa.
“Plenty of embarrassing details will make ANC MPs squirm if asked to defend them when the National Assembly meets on December 6 to debate the report and decide whether the president should face a hearing on whether Parliament should remove him from office,” Nyembezi said.
“Now that this report has come out just two weeks before the ANC’s elective conference, it could be the final nail in the coffin as it throws Ramaphosa’s presidency into crisis and casts doubt on his future as South Africa’s leader.”
At Friday’s meeting, Ramaphosa is expected to face a grilling, with some NEC members expected to take him to task.
Regardless of the outcomes of the NEC meeting, opposition parties are forging ahead with plans to use parliamentary processes to remove the president from office.
They say the damning findings must lead to the establishment of an impeachment committee.
The panel was formed after the ATM submitted a motion of no confidence against Ramaphosa. Former State Security Agency (SSA) boss Arthur Fraser opened criminal charges over the farm incident.
The ATM on Thursday approached Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula requesting a secret ballot when Parliament meets on Tuesday to vote on an impeachment committee.
“Madam Speaker must accept that (a) secret ballot voting system is necessary in certain circumstances for the effective exercise of the members of the National Assembly right to vote without outside influence or conscience which would render the right an empty one,” the ATM said.
For an impeachment committee to go ahead, 266 members of the National Assembly would need to approve the vote, taking into account that the ANC has 230 members.
The EFF said it would also request a secret ballot at next week’s meeting of the National Assembly.
“It is now clear that there is a deliberate cover up of the crimes committed by Ramaphosa and our law enforcement agencies are complicit,” the party said in a statement.
The president’s reluctance to be honest has disadvantaged him, said political science expert at Stellenbosch University (SU), Professor Amanda Gouws.
“The report motivates the findings well and demands accountability from President Ramaphosa, implicating him in breach of his oath of office and the Constitution. These are serious matters ... It really puts the whole country at risk. It can be a watershed moment because who will replace the president if he needs to step aside?”
SU director at the School of Public Leadership, Professor Zwelinzima Ndevu, said from a leadership perspective the scathing findings will have huge implications on the country and the president’s ambitions for a second term.
“The president will have to convince his colleagues in the ANC why he thinks the panel made a mistake in their findings. This will have to be a demonstration that important evidence was not adequately considered or was ignored. Other than that, I think he will have to do the honourable thing and resign,” he said.
Political analyst Professor Sipho Seepe said: “The question is if members of the ANC will remind him of what he had actually said.
Where he said if there is a finger pointing at you (Ramaphosa), your likely demeanour and posture is to remove yourself from the situation ... I do think it has damaged him.”
“You have a president who may have violated his oath of office who had been involved in collusion ... he violated the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act which in itself is no longer a matter that Parliament must deal with.
It’s a matter that the NPA must deal with,” he said.
Cape Times