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2019-07-23 09:20
Ramaphosa's response to Mkhwebane is that the Protecteur du citoyen does not have to be interested in financing the president's campaign. Even if the court says it, it does not answer the political question of who made the donations, writes Ralph Mathekga.
The presidency of President Cyril Ramaphosa is
to a terrible start. This is after questions have been raised about finances.
the donations that were made to his campaign to become the president of the ANC.
It all started with what seemed to be
insidious revelations that Bosasa gave 500,000 rand to Ramaphosa. C & # 39; was
followed by the president flip flop on if the money was intended for himself,
or his son. The protector of the citizen, the lawyer Busisiwe Mkhwebane, was brought to
the fight when a complaint was filed with his office to investigate the fact that Ramaphosa
deliberately cheated Parliament in his previous answer that the money from
Bosasa was paid on his son's account and not on his own.
The president insists that he knew now
Bosasa's gift, hence his initial error that the money was paid to
the account of his son. The Protecteur du citoyen concluded that he had violated the ethics of the management
Code by failing to officially declare the donations he received, including Bosasa
Don. Mkhwebane went further and found that the magnitude of donations
that Ramaphosa received were so vast that the president should be investigated
for money laundering.
A small case that initially concerned a
A donation from Bosasa finally revealed that Ramaphosa's campaign account was
host over 300m. Mkhwebane was originally asked to investigate a molehill,
only to stumble on a mountain. Even those who do not take the current People's Protector
seriously for various reasons would be curious to know who gave more than 300 million rands
in the president's campaign. Call me naive but for an ANC internal campaign, that
the number is too high and raises serious questions.
As far as I'm concerned, the President has
a political obligation to explain donations to the public. That's where we
be careful not to confuse the message with the messenger. The answer
by Ramaphosa to Mkhwebane is that the Protector does not have to investigate
financing the president's campaign; it's beyond his jurisdiction. Even if
the court confirms this argument, it does not answer the political question: who
made such donations?
This does not mean that those who donated
to the president are supposed to get something in return. It's more about
the simple question of transparency, according to which the public should know
about who made a donation to the Ramaphosa campaign. Since the campaign was on the internal
ANC leadership race, the party should have put in place regulations
regarding the processes by which donations are received and managed.
If the President has actually received more than 300 million rand
in donations, I am very interested in knowing more about these donations.
The explanation given by the President that he did not know the details is
worrying. This is the type of explanation that was expected of the former
President Jacob Zuma. But Ramaphosa's campaign was rooted in
transparency and accountability. It means that he has made a tacit moral commitment
to do things in a faithful manner to the integrity ticket that he has badumed in his
campaign to become the president of the ANC.
Therefore, for Ramaphosa to resort to "I
did not know "as an explanation is quite disturbing given that knowledge
on the source of money is the most important information for any policy
campaign.
It is insufficient for the President to say
that he did not know who was donating to his campaign. For someone who
spoke of clean government, Ramaphosa went wrong. If he
do not disclose who donated him simply because he believes the law
do not ask him to do it, so he will have to live with the speculation that
he could in the future be indebted to powerful special interests.
The fact is that he was receiving money from
Bosasa, he could also have received money from even more controversial sources.
At this point, we simply do not know.
Ramaphosa should seriously consider a sense
communication with citizens about donations. S? He continues to behave like
it's normal to receive over 300 million rand for an internal party
leadership contest, so he's too far away from the people and maybe dangerously
too close to the money to get an idea of what this means for others.
Some might curse Mkhwebane for climbing
the question to where he is. To this, someone once said that some of the best
developments in our society have come from those with the most sinister motives.
– Ralph Mathekga is a political badyst and author of When Zuma goes away and Ramaphosa's tour.
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