President Cyril Ramaphosa has maintained he did not lie to
parliament and that the R500,000 donation from Bosasa boss Gavin Watson was
paid to his presidential campaign and not to his son Andile.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the presidency said
the money paid to Andile’s company, Blue Crane Capital, is not linked to the
donation made to the CR17 campaign.
The presidency confirmed that Blue Crane Capital received a
total of R2m from Bosasa, now African Global Operations (AGO), for consultancy
work which is separate to the R500,000 paid to the campaign which had nothing
to do with Andile.
The money was paid to the CR17 campaign through an
attorney's trust account used for fundraising for the campaign. This was done
to hide the identities of the donors.
However, it is not clear why Watson informed former Bosasa
auditor Peet Venter that the donation to the campaign was for Andile who it
seems was not part of his father’s campaign.
"I wasn't aware of what the relationship was and why
[Watson] would make a payment to the son of the deputy president of South
Africa," Venter told the state capture commission of inquiry.
According to the presidency statement, when Ramaphosa
replied to a DA question in the National Assembly he was under the impression
that it was in relation to the business contract his son’s company, Blue Crane
Capital, had entered into with Bosasa and not the donation.
Upon realising that he had confused the two, he corrected
this error by writing to the speaker in November in which he said: “I have been
subsequently informed that the payment referred to in the supplementary
question by the leader of the opposition does not relate to that contract.
“I have been told that the payment to which the leader of
the opposition referred was made on behalf of Mr Gavin Watson into a trust
account that was used to raise funds for a campaign established to support my
candidature for the presidency of the African National Congress.”
The presidency said the donation has been paid back but is
being held in a trust account.
“The funds amounting to R500,000, have been placed in an
attorney’s trust account until allegations against Mr Watson and AGO have been
clarified,” the statement read, reiterating Ramaphosa’s willingness to appear
before the commission.
“This gesture also serves to encourage other South Africans
to answer the call by deputy chief justice Zondo for witnesses to step forward
and assist the commission in its hearing of evidence.” sowetan
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