South Africa’s ruling party on Monday gave its full support to President Cyril Ramaphosa in the wake of a scandal, announcing that its members in parliament, where they have a majority, would vote against impeachment proceedings.
The party’s top National Executive Committee (NEC) said it has decided that it will vote against the adoption of the parliamentary report, which has indicted the head of state and whose findings have paved the way for impeachment proceedings, the African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Paul Mashatile told a news conference after a meeting of the party’s top brass in Johannesburg.
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CORRUPTION SCANDAL: RAMAPHOSA FILES SUIT OVER DAMNING REPORT
South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa has taken a case to the Constitutional Court to overturn a parliamentary report accusing him of a corruption scandal whose findings have paved the way for impeachment proceedings against him.
In a document submitted to the supreme court, the head of state demanded that the report submitted to parliament on Wednesday be “reviewed, declared illegal and not taken into account”, while the report is still pending.
The 70-year-old Ramaphosa, who has been embarrassed by the scandal for several months, is accused of trying to cover up a burglary at one of his properties in 2020 by not declaring it to the police or tax authorities. The criminals took $580,000 in cash, hidden under the cushions of a sofa.
The ANC meets on December 16 to designate its next president in 2024, if the party, increasingly contested, was winner of the legislative.
The ANC, which has had a majority in parliament since 1994, has been plagued by corruption and factional warfare and has chosen the head of state since the advent of South African democracy.
