Ramaphosa faces threat of impeachment over ‘farmgate’ scandal

SOUTH Africa’s president was under pressure to resign last night over allegations he covered up a $4 million (£3.3 million) theft from his ranch.

Cyril Ramaphosa claimed that just $580,000 was stolen when burglars broke in to his estate in 2020 and took the cash hidden under sofa cushions.

He said the money was from a buffalo deal and denied arranging for the burglars to be kidnapped and bribed into silence.

An independent report found yesterday that he “may have committed” serious violations, raising questions about how the president, who rose to power promising to fight corruption, acquired the money.

Mr Ramaphosa “is looking at a number of options and consulting with a number of role players” in the African National Congress (ANC), Vincent Magwenya, the presidential spokesman, said last night. “All options are on the table,” he added.

The talks were unfolding on the eve of an emergency session of the party’s decision-making body to discuss the escalating crisis. Mr Ramaphosa has been under pressure since June when Arthur Fraser, South Africa’s former spy boss, accused him of hiding the theft of $4million from Phala Phala, his game farm near Bela-bela, in the Limpopo region.

He has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crimes.

The report into allegations of potential misconduct will be examined by parliament on Tuesday.

That debate could open the way to a vote on impeaching Ramaphosa, which in South Africa means removal from office. South Africans have been riveted by details from the “farmgate scandal” investigation.

An inquiry was told by Mr Ramaphosa that the $580,000 hidden in the sofa was from a Sudanese businessman who had bought his buffaloes.

He said that farm staff initially locked the money in an office safe but a manager decided that the “safest place” to store it would be under the cushions of a sofa inside the president’s private residence. Mr Ramaphosa told the inquiry that the accusations against him were “without any merit” and asked it not to take the matter “any further.”

However, the three-member panel concluded that the president had failed to report the theft directly to police and had acted in a way inconsistent with holding office.

The rand fell nearly three per cent yesterday as Mr Ramaphosa cancelled a scheduled appearance in parliament following publication of the report.

Opposition politicians and other critics fired a volley of demands that he step down.

“The president has to step aside now and answer to the case,” said Nkosazana Dlamini-zuma, a senior cabinet minister who ran unsuccessfully against Mr Ramaphosa as ANC leader in 2017.

“His best course of action remains immediate resignation,” said the Leftist opposition Economic Freedom Fighters.

Mr Ramaphosa took office at the helm of Africa’s most industrialised economy in 2018, after a decade of corruption scandals under Jacob Zuma. He survived four impeachment votes until the ANC forced him to resign in 2018.

Mr Ramaphosa now risks becoming the third ANC leader forced out since the party came to power in 1994.