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JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa’s president is fighting for his long political career amid an ongoing scandal that has tarnished his reputation as an anti-apartheid icon once widely admired for tackling the problems of Africa’s most evolved economy.
Cyril Ramaphosa, 70, says he is innocent of charges for hiding at least $580,000 on a couch at his ranch. He is accused of failing to sign the cash with the government and, when it was stolen, of failing to report the theft to the police, in order to avoid questions about how he received the U. S. dollars.
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South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party is due to vote at a convention starting Friday on whether Ramaphosa steps down as party leader. The last two South African presidents had to resign after squandering the party’s leadership at the ANC convention.
“From Ramaphoria to Ramafailure,” read a headline this week on the online page News24 that described how appalling is widespread admiration for Ramaphosa’s leadership in the country of 60 million people.
Once known for his anti-apartheid activism and connection to Nelson Mandela, Ramaphosa went from having a union background to being a board member and shareholder in several of South Africa’s largest companies. Ranked as one of the richest men in South Africa, he appeared to be well-equipped. Combat corruption that has reached virtually every corner of South African life, adding relationships with the police and access to government services.
One of Ramaphosa’s favorite projects is his Phala Phala ranch in Limpopo province, where he raises Ankole farm animals and African antelopes. was stolen in 2020, Ramaphosa did not report the theft to the police, to avoid questions about where the money came from and why it had not been reported to the authorities.
Ramaphosa claims that his ranch received the cash from the sale of some buffalo to a Sudanese businessman and that the ranch manager did not know what to do with the cash.
Ramaphosa’s supporters say the allegations against him, which violated South African rules prohibiting citizens from holding foreign money without pointing it out to the financial government, are less than the billions of dollars critics say Array was stolen from the state through affiliates of former President Jacob. Zuma who secured fraudulent contracts with state corporations.
“The sadness in Ramaphosa is deep,” said William Gumede, head of the Democracy Works think tank. “But South Africa’s expectations have fallen so low that Ramaphosa is still considered better than other alternatives. I’m amazed at how this is the view of big business forums over others in rural villages.
Parliament voted Tuesday 214-148 against impeachment, with Ramaphosa winning the vote of nearly all lawmakers from the ruling African National Congress party, which holds the most seats.
This ANC bodes well for Ramaphosa’s re-election as party leader. He will have to win the party leadership to run for a moment as president of South Africa in 2024.
Nelson Mandela is the only post-apartheid South African president to retire voluntarily, having served one term from 1994 to 1999. Thabo Mbeki, Mandela’s successor, was forced to resign in 2008 after feuding with a faction related to his then-deputy, Zuma. .
Then came the Zuma years. A ruling on conducting a wide-ranging judicial inquiry into corruption said those years had been marked by rampant looting of state coffers. Zuma was forced to resign when corruption allegations against him became overwhelming.
When Ramaphosa succeeded Zuma in 2018, he promised to clear up the mess and subsidize the judicial inquiry. He has earned respect for ably leading the country through the COVID-19 pandemic. But the scandal of dollars hidden on a couch at his ranch forced him to stay in power alone.
“The majority of the ANC will certainly close ranks around Ramaphosa and he will continue as party leader and as president of the country,” Gumede said. quid pro quo and will no longer be able to fight corruption effectively. It will remain in force, but it will have less strength to do anything. This will turn him into a lame duck.
Ramaphosa’s political struggles come as South Africa faces a huge range of problems, 35% unemployment, 7. 4% inflation and nationwide blackouts lasting more than seven hours a day.
“Across South Africa, there is a sense of despair. People don’t have political leaders or political parties to trust,” Gumede said. The only ray of hope is that the 2024 elections will bring greater organization of leaders.
Ordinary South Africans are tired of cynicism about Ramaphosa.
Lerato Makgatho, 38, who lives in Johannesburg’s Kempton Park district, said the revelations about cash at Phala Phala surprised her.
“He’s known to be a billionaire, so hearing about dollar money on a couch on his farm doesn’t have compatibility with that image,” he said. “This was a surprise to me. “
Thabiso Kome, 35, a network activist from Tembisa township, east of Johannesburg, said he hoped Ramaphosa would solve the scourge of corruption because it is so prevalent in the ruling party.
“Some of us have noticed corruption locally, in local clinics and hospitals. This kind of corruption is solved through one person,” Kome said. “It’s general to hear about corruption and controversy when it comes to the ANC. Ramaphosa, He is one of them.
Mogomotsi Magome in Johannesburg and Farai Mutsaka in Harare, Zimbabwe, contributed.
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