Newsdeck

Phala Phala report

South Africa’s ANC meets over ‘Farmgate’ as Ramaphosa allies mount defence

South Africa’s ANC meets over ‘Farmgate’ as Ramaphosa allies mount defence
President Cyril Ramaphosa at the inaugural South Africa Green Hydrogen Summit (SAGHS) at Century City Convention Centre on November 29, 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa. Image: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Officials in South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) met on Friday to decide whether President Cyril Ramaphosa should stay on after an inquiry found evidence of misconduct, but they failed to reach a conclusion.

ANC Treasurer General Paul Mashatile said no decision would be taken on Friday by the National Executive Committee, but that it would reconvene before Dec. 6 to discuss the report.

Ramphosa’s future has been in doubt since publication on Wednesday of a report by a panel of experts that investigated revelations that he kept millions of dollars in cash at his private game farm and failed to even report it missing when the money was stolen from the property in 2020.

The existence of the cash at the Phala Phala game farm and his failure to report the theft to police only surfaced in June.

Ramaphosa has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crime. The president has said the money was much less than the $4 million to $8 million reported, and that it was the proceeds of game sales at the farm.

The media has dubbed the affair “Farmgate”.

By Kopano Gumbi and Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo

(Additional reporting by Tim Cocks, Alexander Winning and Rachel Savage in Johannesburg and Wendell Roelf in Cape Town; editing by James Macharia Chege and Mark Heinrich)

Gallery

Comments - Please in order to comment.

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.