Former South African President Jacob Zuma, forced to resign in 2018 as he was mired in scandals and accusations of corruption, accused his successor Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday of being “corrupt”. “The president is corrupt” and “he committed treason,” he said in his first reaction to allegations that Cyril Ramaphosa was involved in an obscure burglary case.
“No president should manage private affairs when in office” because it is against the oath taken by the head of state, he continued at a press conference in Johannesburg, South Africa .
An independent commission set up in Parliament
An independent commission was set up in September by the South African Parliament to investigate a burglary case that has been bothering President Ramaphosa for several months, accused of money laundering and corruption. The results of the investigation could lead to a possible vote in Parliament for his impeachment. Cyril Ramaphosa is accused of having concealed from the police and the tax authorities a burglary dating from 2020 in one of his properties, during which large sums of cash were found, hidden in furniture.
An investigation was opened after a complaint was filed in June by former South African intelligence chief Arthur Fraser. According to the latter, burglars broke into a farm belonging to the president in Phala Phala, in the north-east of the country, and stole four million dollars (4.08 million euros) in cash.
Ramaphosa accused of covering up burglary and money found at the scene
The complaint accuses Cyril Ramaphosa of having concealed the burglary from the police and from the tax authorities the money found on the spot, as well as of having organized the kidnapping and interrogation of the thieves, then of having bribed them to keep them the silence. Cyril Ramaphosa denounces a political maneuver, denies the allegations of kidnapping and corruption, questions the amount of the theft mentioned and maintains that the money came from the sale of cattle.
The affair puts the president in turmoil before the ANC decides soon whether or not to present him as a candidate for a second presidential term in 2024. Jacob Zuma said that the ANC conference in December “is going to have to deal with this case” and decide whether the president can stay or not. “Many say the president failed,” he continued.
Zuma released for health reasons and placed under judicial supervision
Another former head of state, Thabo Mbeki, also deplored the situation of the ANC before the December congress. “Our president is under a lot of pressure (.) over the Phala Phala farm affair,” he said at a separate meeting in Johannesburg. Former President Zuma, sentenced to 15 months in prison for stubbornly refusing to respond to a commission investigating corruption, finished serving his sentence at the beginning of the month. Two months after starting his sentence, Jacob Zuma was released for health reasons and placed under judicial supervision.
On Saturday, he called his incarceration “illegal” and castigated the magistrates. “The fact is that the highest court in this country broke the law,” he said, saying “we need to make sure judges don’t turn into politicians.” Jacob Zuma, who has yet to answer to the courts for a bribery case dating back more than twenty years, announced at the end of September that he was planning to return to politics.