Riyaz Patel
The EFF has “confirmed” that one of its MPs received R40,000 from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s CR17 campaign.
The party said in a statement Sunday that Tebogo Mokwele confessed to receiving the money which relates to bereavement, and that she received the money after speaking to Ramaphosa.
The EFF says this revelation confirms that Ramaphosa was directly involved in the accounts used in his ANC presidential campaign.
“Commissar Mokwele’s confirmation that she received the money after speaking to President Cyril Ramaphosa is a confirmation that Ramaphosa was directly involved in the accounts that were paying money to different recipients in the CR17 campaign,” the EFF statement said.
Ramaphosa has maintained that he was minimally involved in the fundraising aspects relating to his 2017 campaign.
The matter surrounding Ramaphosa’s ANC campaign funding followed Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s report released in July, which found the president misled Parliament over a R500,000 donation to his campaign from African Global Operations, previously known as Bosasa.
In November 2018, Ramaphosa responded to a question from DA leader Mmusi Maimane in the National Assembly in which he claimed that the money was payment to his son for services rendered.
He later amended his response in a letter to then Speaker Baleka Mbete, saying it was in fact a donation to his CR17 campaign to become ANC president, but that he was unaware of it at the time.
“It’s an issue (campaign funding) that has been with the ANC for some time… clearly it’s got to be addressed.“
Former President Thabo Mbeki
Former President Thabo Mbeki has meanwhile weighed in on presidential campaign funding in the African National Congress (ANC), reportedly saying issues around how money is used within the governing party is something it is aware of.
During an interactive session with students at the University of South Africa, Mbeki said he believed the public scrutiny around Ramaphosa’s campaign funds shouldn’t be focused on the president alone, as the problems have been around for a while, eNCA reported Sunday.
“It’s an issue that has been with the ANC for some time. So, I am sure that the ANC will deal with that issue. I am saying the ANC has identified there is a problem – the use of money – because clearly it’s got to be addressed,” Mbeki was quoted as saying.
He added that statements that there hasn’t been any policy on the issue meant “the matter must be attended to.”
The former statesman also said he didn’t believe any ANC leader had been “bought by monopoly capital” following accusations by some opposition parties that Ramaphosa was bought by “white monopoly capital” after the Sunday Independent published the names of CR17 funders and recipients last week.
“I am quite certain that as members of the ANC, we would never allow a situation in which leaders of the ANC are bought by monopoly capital, that they cease to be our leaders and they become property of somebody else. If that happens, you should blame the rest of us. But I don’t think we would allow that to happen,” he said.
At the beginning of August, emails related to funding for the campaign were leaked and circulated on social media. Ramaphosa’s campaign managers contend the communications was intercepted illegally, as do the Presidency.
Last week, the High Court in Pretoria temporarily sealed the Public Protector’s records related to her investigation, as requested by the president.
The High Court has also granted him an interdict of Mkhwebane’s remedial action and recommendations, which included, among other actions, an ethics probe by Parliament and the National Prosecuting Authority investigating allegations of money laundering involving the C17 campaign.
