Senior officials of South Africa’s African National Congress Friday continued displaying division within the ruling party as they prepared to hold an emergency session focused on corruption allegations linked to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Vincent Magwenya, the spokesperson for President Ramaphosa, late Thursday said the Southern African leader was not panicking, spent the day holed up in talks with senior members of the ruling party and that an announcement was imminent.
“The decision will not be rushed but made in the interest of the country and the government’s stability,” said Magwenya.
The Southern African leader has been under fire since June, after former spy boss Arthur Fraser filed a complaint with the police alleging that Ramaphosa had concealed a cash robbery at his Phala Phala farm in northeastern South Africa.
Fraser also alleged that Ramaphosa refrained from reporting the cash robbery and instead organized for the robbers to be kidnapped and bribed into silence, an allegation vehemently denied by the president.
Mathole Motshekga, a lawyer for the ruling ANC addressed the heightened calls for Ramaphosa’s resignation and said there is no legal basis for him to step down.
“There is no factual and legal basis for him to go,” said Motshekga.
A senior party executive who chose to remain anonymous echoed Motshekga’s sentiments.
“The top ANC people don’t want him to leave,” said the anonymous executive.
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, the head of the influential Anglican Church and successor to the late Desmond Tutu, pleaded with the ruling party to keep Ramaphosa at the helm.
“No one should be above the law, but to pass final judgement on a person based on what is in effect a board of preliminary investigation, which has not made a final determination of the facts, could lead to lawlessness in South Africa,” said Makgoba.
