The president of South Africa dodges the resignation by maintaining the support of his party

The African National Congress (ANC), the party in power in South Africa, has so far saved the head of the country's president, Cyril Ramaphosa, and is giving him a breath of fresh air at the most difficult moment of his political career, after the revelation that he hid $580,000 in cash (about 550,000 euros) in the sofa of one of his private residences has put him on the ropes.

Meeting in extraordinary session, the national executive council of Nelson Mandela's historic party decided, after an intense debate, to vote against the opening of impeachment proceedings in Parliament, where the ANC enjoys a comfortable majority.

Subsequently, the legislative body decided to delay said vote until December 13, which gives the president a week of margin.

The scandal broke out last June when the former head of South African espionage and today a political rival of Cyril Ramaphosa denounced at the police station that in 2019 there had been the theft of $580,000 in cash on a farm owned by the president where game animals were raised.

Last week, a report by a panel of experts ruled that Ramaphosa could have committed several crimes against the anti-corruption law and warned of a possible incompatibility between his position as president and his private activity.

All this has generated a barrage of criticism and calls for his resignation even within his own party, the ANC, although at the last minute the national executive committee has decided to maintain its support for Ramaphosa.

"If Parliament starts the process (of impeachment) tomorrow, the ANC will not vote in favor," said the party's general secretary, Paul Mashatile, after the meeting of the main leaders held in Johannesburg on Monday.

The opening of an impeachment process requires the support of 50% of Congress, while the impeachment of the president requires the favorable vote of two thirds of the deputies, so the decision of the CNA, which controls 230 seats out of the 400 in the Lower House, makes it difficult for this route to be opened.

However, given the internal division suffered by this political group, there is the possibility that some deputies will rebel against the slogan of the national executive committee, so Ramaphosa still cannot breathe completely easy.

The ANC's decision has weighed on the attempt to stop the depreciation of the rand, the national currency, as well as the lack of replacement of the leader with the appropriate profile within the party.

On Monday night, hours after the ruling party's announcement, Parliament decided to postpone the vote scheduled for Tuesday for a week.

"We are all in agreement with the date of December 13," said Nosiviwe Noluthando Mapisa-Nqakula, a spokesman for Congress, after a special scheduling meeting.

The deputy justified this delay with the argument of giving all the congressmen the necessary time to reach Cape Town, where the seat of Parliament is located, and thus be able to participate in person in a vote considered historic.

judicial counteroffensive

The president has not stood idly by.

He has started a judicial counteroffensive on Monday against the report that accuses him of the alleged commission of various crimes.

Ramaphosa has submitted a claim to the Constitutional Court for the conclusions of said document to be reviewed, declared illegal and, therefore, rejected.

In this way, the South African president shows his intention to defend himself against him and fight to continue in office after several days of intense rumors about his supposed intention to resign.

Ramaphosa participated in the meeting of the national executive committee, where he gave his explanations.

The president assured that the $580,000 came from the sale of 20 buffaloes to a Sudanese businessman and that it was one of his employees who decided to hide them on a sofa in his private residence inside the Phala Phala farm.

The question that remains in the air is why, more than a month after the supposed sale, the money was still there and had not been deposited in the bank.

The report, however, is not conclusive about the alleged commission of crimes by Ramaphosa, something that the CNA has assessed.

Democratic Alliance (AD), the main opposition party, not only demands the resignation of the president, but has also requested the holding of early elections.

Follow all the international information on

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

Keep reading

I'm already a subscriber