JOHANNESBURG — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that he will urgently challenge in court a report that he misled lawmakers about a contribution to his presidential campaign.
Ramaphosa has described the report by South Africa’s official corruption monitor as fundamentally and irretrievably flawed, adding that he had partial knowledge of the fundraising details of his campaign to be president of his African National Congress party.
“I knew there was money being raised, and I attended and addressed some of the
fundraising dinners,” said Ramaphosa. “So there was knowledge, but the knowledge was limited.”
Ramaphosa said he instructed his legal team to immediately launch a judicial review of the report.
The report by South Africa’s public protector, a constitutionally created office that investigates allegations of misconduct in state affairs, said Ramaphosa “deliberately misled” lawmakers late last year about a $34,000 campaign contribution from the chief executive officer of a local company, Africa Global Operations, formerly Bosasa.
Bosasa has been implicated in corruption allegations at a state commission currently
investigating graft in government and state-controlled companies. The report called on the national director of public prosecutions to investigate further.
The public protector’s report is a setback for Ramaphosa, who has vowed to address sprawling graft allegations that forced his predecessor, Jacob Zuma, from office and sparked national outrage.
Ramaphosa was Zuma’s former deputy president.
The public protector was appointed by Zuma on the recommendation of parliament, and she is widely seen as aligned with Zuma and his allies.
A Section on 07/22/2019