South African President receives support from his party in corruption case

South Africa’s president, Ramaphosa, who is accused of corruption, has the support of his party’s summit, the African National Congress. He was shot in the case of the theft of a large sum from his farm.

A parliamentary commission of inquiry prepared a critical report on this subject. It appeared last week and was supposed to be discussed in parliament tomorrow, but it has been postponed to next Tuesday.

The party leadership decided after a weekend of consultations that ANC parliamentarians would vote against a possible impeachment measure. The ruling party has a large majority in parliament.

The report says there are indications of misconduct and a possible violation of the constitution by Ramaphosa. It would also have violated the anti-corruption law.

Earlier today, it became clear that Ramaphosa had gone to the Constitutional Court to have the report declared illegal.

Ramaphosa was discredited last summer when a Zuma supporter said the president had covered up a theft. Allegedly, a large sum of money was stolen from his game farm. The money would have been hidden in the sofa.

The president admitted stealing the money, but said it was $580,000 and not $4 million, as previously reported. The huge amount is said to come from buffalo sales. The investigative committee says in the report that there is “great doubt” about that reading.

The 70-year-old head of state came to power in 2018 promising to fight corruption. He succeeded Jacob Zuma, who also belongs to the African National Congress. The party is thus divided between supporters of Zuma and supporters of Ramaphosa.