South African President Cyril Ramaphosa survived a bid by some of the governing party’s top leaders to force him to temporarily vacate his post over a scandal surrounding a robbery at his game farm in 2020.
Allegations that Ramaphosa covered up the theft of foreign exchange at the farm in the northern Limpopo Province were discussed at a three-day meeting of African National Congress’ (ANC) national executive committee, said three members of the panel, who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to comment.
A proposal that the president step aside pending the outcome of investigations into the robbery was quashed by his allies, who said party rules would only require him to do so if he was charged, they said.
Photo: Reuters
Ramaphosa told the committee that the stolen money was the proceeds of an animal sale to a Sudanese businessman, said the people, echoing what he told the nation’s graft ombudsman, who is also probing the allegations.
The president, who has previously denied any wrongdoing, did not address the matter in his closing address to the conference on Sunday.
ANC spokesman Pule Mabe did not answer calls to his mobile phone or respond to text messages seeking comment. The party has scheduled a media briefing for later yesterday.
The focus now shifts to parliament, which is set to receive a report this week from a three-member panel it appointed to determine whether there are possible grounds for Ramaphosa to be impeached. Opposition parties have questioned whether the president breached foreign exchange or tax rules.
The ANC is due to hold its five-yearly elective conference next month and Ramaphosa is widely expected to seek a second term as its leader. The party might announce the candidates who have met the nominations thresholds to contest leadership posts at yesterday’s briefing.
The committee’s meeting was its first in-person gathering since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The attendees included former South African president Thabo Mbeki, who had suggested that the party should consider its options in the eventuality that Ramaphosa is charged.
The president will “gladly” vacate his post if he’s prosecuted, but as things stand there is no criminal case against him, his spokesman Vincent Magwenya told reporters on Sunday.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion