South African President Cyril Ramaphosa escapes impeachment proceedings

President Cyril Ramaphosa, suspected of financial misconduct, will not face impeachment proceedings. This is what emerged from the parliamentary session on Tuesday 13 December, where more than 50% of the deputies voted in favour of the leader, thus preventing the opening of an enquiry to relieve him of his duties.

It was a crucial parliamentary session, as it was to seal the fate of the South African president. At the heart of a corruption scandal for months, Cyril Ramaphosa will not be indicted immediately. The vote in the assembly on Tuesday was 214 against the procedure, while 148 voted in favour and two abstentions were reported. Each of the MPs publicly justified their choice, speaking in all eleven of the country’s official languages. It was one of the most heated debates in the South African parliament. In the end, “The investigation will therefore not be pursued,” concluded the Speaker of the National Assembly, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.

As a reminder, in 2020, the South African president was the victim of a robbery at his farm, during which USD 550,000 was stolen from him. However, Cyril Ramaphosa voluntarily decided to keep the robbery quiet. His opponents then accused him of not declaring the theft to conceal a possible illegal origin. Dirty money, according to the complaint filed in June by a political opponent. The fruit of the sale of twenty buffaloes, according to the president. Hence a parliamentary enquiry by three jurists which indicates that the president “may have committed” acts contrary to the law. That is what the vote was about.

Unfortunately or fortunately, the elected representatives of the population refused to get to the bottom of the matter. This is because the ANC (African National Congress, the party of the ruling president) has instructed its MPs to reject such a procedure. If more than 50% of the MPs had voted in favour of the move, an impeachment procedure would have been launched to thoroughly investigate the situation. Although divided, the ANC retains more than a majority of seats in parliament.