The president is accused of concealing his involvement in
kidnapping and money laundering following a burglary at his Phala Phala farm in
Limpopo on February 9, 2020, during which robbers of Namibian origin made off
with more than R60 million that was hidden under mattresses on his farm.
Having not formally reported this theft to the police, the
president is accused of not accounting for large sums of money kept on his
farm. When the theft happened Ramaphosa allegedly concealed it and bribed the
suspects to keep the matter hidden after he and his team had allegedly used
vigilante tactics of interrogation to force a confession from them.
Political analyst and lecturer Levy Ndou cautioned critics
mostly from the ANC against being “too desperate” to find the president guilty
and labelled a criminal.
“I understand that this matter needs to be given great
attention and scrutiny because it involves a head of state. There are certain
people in the ruling party who are desperate to see the president being found
wrong,” Ndou told “The Star”.
“On the other side, the president himself needs to tell the
nation what happened because as the head of state, he has the responsibility to
account to the people of South Africa because as a people we want to be led by
someone we trust. Speaking at a conference in Limpopo like he has done is not
the right way of accounting to the people. He needs to speak directly to the
people. We understand that he might not be able to fully account as the matter
is still being investigated, but he should at the very least speak directly to
South Africans,” Ndou said.
On whether the president should step down pending the investigation
and the criminal case laid against him by former head of South African state
intelligence Arthur Fraser, Ndou said it would be premature for the president
to do so as this matter has not been concluded in a court of law.
“Stepping down must be contextual and should be proven
without reasonable doubt that the president has done something wrong. The
president had not been formally charged and thus cannot step down based on
allegations only,” he said.
Ndou called on South Africans to let the law take its
course and law enforcement agencies be given space to do their work without
members of society and opposition leaders adding unnecessary pressure to the
country’s security cluster, which must fully investigate this matter.
Leader of Black First Land First (BLF) Andile Mngxitama
said the silence from the country’s leading civil society and pressure groups
shows just how factional and inconsistent the country’s political landscape has
been in the past five years since Ramaphosa took over as the president of the
country.
“The entire Zuma
Must Go campaign from the churches to so-called civil society has gone to the
ground and its self-censoring. This shows that the whole attack on Zuma was
political. Solid evidence of contravention of the law by Ramaphosa has not been
met with outrage. This lack of reaction from the usually loud so-called
anti-corruption civil society shows that their fight against corruption is
factional and biased. Zuma was attacked because he stands for radical economic
transformation. Ramaphosa is being given a pass because he is their man. BLF
has long ago called for Ramaphosa to go. His removal from power is long
overdue,” Mngxitama said.
In the meantime, deputy president of the EFF, Floyd
Shivambu, has called on Ramaphosa to submit himself to the rule of law, saying
his party will no longer recognise him as the president unless he subjects
himself to the country’s rules.
“Cyril Ramaphosa is a money launderer and a kidnapper who
has no respect for the rule of law. He is no longer a president until he
subjects himself to the rule of law,” he said. IOL
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