South Africa’s President Ramaphosa is on the verge of stepping down over a possible money laundering scandal. The former spy chief Fraser, who was fired by him, pulls the strings on the allegations.
Ramaphosa’s explanation of the origin of the funds stolen from his farm is said to be “worryingly unsatisfactory”.
On a sunny Wednesday in June, South Africa’s former spy chief Arthur Fraser entered a nondescript police station in Johannesburg and filed a complaint against South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. His allegations of money laundering and bribery initially sounded like something out of a bad crime novel. But now they could cost Ramaphosa the office – and plunge South Africa, which has been hollowed out by mismanagement, even deeper into the crisis.
The complaint relates to a theft at Ramaphosa’s big game farm “Phala Phala”. At least $580,000 is said to have been stolen here in 2020, said to have been hidden in a sofa. According to Ramaphosa, this sum came from the sale of 20 buffalo to a Sudanese businessman. According to Fraser, however, the amount of money stolen was far greater and was “approximately $4 to $8 million,” according to his ad.
Is the corruption fighter himself corrupt?
Ramaphosa continues to deny any wrongdoing. On Wednesday evening, however, a parliamentary committee of inquiry published a report that leaves a lot of things vague, but places a considerable burden on Ramaphosa. The president mentioned the theft to a high-ranking police officer, but did not report it, as would be required in such a case. The fact that Ramaphosa’s business partner has connections to Sudan’s ex-dictator Omar Al-Bashir is also not very confidence-inspiring.
Several South African media reported on Thursday that Ramaphosa’s resignation was imminent and that he would give a televised address later that evening. After all, in 2018 he succeeded Jacob Zuma, who looted billions, with a promise to fight the enormous corruption in South Africa’s ruling ANC party. But on Friday, despite long meetings of the ANC leadership, he remained in office for the time being. His political environment is apparently pushing him to fight the allegations.
The investigative report describes the President’s explanations of the origin of the stolen money as “worryingly unsatisfactory” – especially since the buffalo were never picked up. According to the 82-page document, the president may have violated anti-corruption laws.
However, the committee expressly describes its investigations as preliminary and points out the dangers associated with the “hearsay” spread by Fraser. For example, Fraser claims that some of the suspects arrested in Namibia received the equivalent of 8,000 francs for their silence on the matter. The police there were also asked to handle the matter “with discretion”.
The pioneer of Zuma
Such caution is appropriate, after all, politics in South Africa is characterized by intrigues. And Fraser has been one of the behind-the-scenes pullers for decades. In 2007, then-President Thabo Mbeki asked him to compile incriminating material on Zuma, who was sawing his chair massively at the time. Fraser, meanwhile, did the opposite: he had investigators tap phone calls and allegedly leaked the tapes to Zuma’s defense – paving his way to power.
Zuma, who was head of ANC espionage during the liberation struggle, later retaliated and made Fraser head of the secret service, where he not only kept investigations away from the then president, but is also said to have enriched himself. Ramaphosa put an end to that game and fired Fraser in his attempts to revive law enforcement.
Not much is known about Fraser, a bald man with a quiet voice – which is probably part of his job profile. Fraser grew up in Cape Flats, a slum in Cape Town, studied film, joined the ANC underground and joined the secret service in the 1990s. He is still associated with the ANC’s pro-Zuma left wing, which seeks a destructive economic course to reduce black-white income disparities.
Accordingly, the timing of his allegations is no coincidence. The ANC party conference is scheduled for mid-December, where Ramaphosa’s re-election as party leader has so far been considered certain. It would be the prerequisite for a second term as President from May 2024.
At this point, it seems unlikely that Ramaphosa will hold out until then and face the humiliation of an impeachment trial.
Paul Mashatile, the current general secretary and treasurer of the ailing ANC, is the most frequently mentioned as a possible successor to Ramaphosa. He is not a hardliner, but much closer to the left wing of the party than Ramaphosa.