The South African president may soon end his political career. Cyril Ramaphosa is threatened with impeachment over allegations of corruption. The man who came to power promising to fight corruption is now caught in his own trap. For now, his party, the ANC, is bailing him out.
President Ramaphosa came to power in 2018 after the African National Congress (ANC) party forced the resignation of Jacob Zuma, the former South African president whose term in office was marred by numerous corruption allegations. Divided by pro-Zuma and pro-Ramaphosa, Nelson Mandela’s party thought it had found a messiah. But very soon he began to have setbacks that could lead to his being voted out of office. Cyril Ramaphosa voluntarily decided to keep quiet about the robbery of one of his farms, in which at least $580,000, the origin of which is still unclear, was allegedly stolen.
The President’s counter-offensive
The case, which has been before the courts since June 2022, is currently making waves in South African politics. But the president asserts that the money came from the sale of twenty buffaloes to a Sudanese businessman. The parliament was due to decide on Tuesday 6 December in an extraordinary session whether to launch an impeachment procedure on the basis of a parliamentary report. The report states that Mr Ramaphosa may have broken the law by concealing a theft from his farm. So on Monday, the South African president appealed to the Constitutional Court to have the parliamentary report and the vote in Parliament “reviewed, declared illegal and rejected”.
At the same time, the South African parliament decided on Monday evening to postpone by a week the vote on the triggering of an impeachment procedure. “We all agree on [la date du] 13 December,” said Nosiviwe Noluthando Mapisa-Nqakula, Speaker of the National Assembly, citing the need to give every elected official time to travel to Cape Town, the seat of Parliament, for an in-person vote.
ANC to the rescue
The ANC is clearly saving President Cyril Ramaphosa. This is because the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) has stated that it will ask its MPs, who form the majority, to vote against its adoption. “If Parliament starts the process tomorrow, the ANC will not support the vote,” Secretary General Paul Mashatile warned after a summit meeting in Johannesburg.
For the impeachment procedure to succeed, first a 50% majority is required and then a two-thirds majority vote. Although divided, the ANC has an overwhelming majority in the South African Parliament.
