South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has said his fate is in his party's hands, in his first comments since an official report on a scandal over money stolen from his farm.
Opponents have called for his resignation after a panel of
legal experts concluded he may have broken the law.
On Saturday, Mr Ramaphosa's spokesman suggested he would
fight on.
The president has now said the party top brass should
decide his next move.
The leaders of the governing Africa National Congress (ANC)
are currently meeting in Johannesburg to discuss the findings of the report.
Speaking outside the venue for the meeting, the president
said that his fellow members of the National Working Committee had given him
permission not to attend "so that they're free to express themselves as
openly and as thoroughly as possible without any form of fear or favour".
On Monday, the ANC's larger decision-making body, the
National Executive Committee (NEC), will also be meeting.
"It is up to the National Executive Committee, which I
am accountable to, to take whatever decision," Mr Ramaphosa told
journalists.
The scandal erupted in June, when a former South African
spy boss, Arthur Fraser, filed a complaint with police accusing the president
of hiding a theft of $4m (£3.25m) in cash from his Phala Phala game farm in
2020.
Mr Ramaphosa admitted that money had been stolen, but said
it was $580,000, not $4m.
The president said the $580,000 had come from the sale of
buffalo, but the panel, headed by a former chief justice, said it had
"substantial doubt" about whether a sale took place.
The panel's findings have been handed to parliament, which
is set to examine them and decide whether or not to launch impeachment
proceedings against the president.
On Saturday, Mr Ramaphosa's spokesman Vincent Magwenya said
the president was "not resigning based on a flawed report, neither is he
stepping aside".
"It may be in the long-term interest and
sustainability of our constitutional democracy, well beyond the Ramaphosa
presidency, that such a clearly flawed report is challenged," he added.
Mr Ramaphosa is also under pressure from the opposition, as
well as rivals within the ANC, to resign.
The scandal is especially damaging for Mr Ramaphosa because
he came to power vowing to clear up the corruption which had dogged the country
under his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.
The ANC remains deeply divided between supporters of Mr
Zuma and those who back Mr Ramaphosa.
Mr Ramaphosa will be challenged for the ANC's leadership by
his former health minister Zweli Mkhize, who has also been accused of
corruption. He denies the allegations. BBC
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