Riyaz Patel
Leaked emails from Cyril Ramaphosa’s successful 2017 ANC presidential campaign is an an attempt to undermine public confidence in the president, the African National Congress has said.
Weekend reports referencing the emails challenged Ramaphosa’s claim that he knew nothing about his campaign funding during the build up to the ANC’s 2017 national elective conference where he was elected party president.
“The ANC is not aware of any acts of illegality on the part of a campaign conducted by any leader of the ANC, including President Ramaphosa. The leaked emails are therefore nothing but a calculated manoeuvre to defocus and detract from the immediate task of socio-economic issues and dealing with the challenges of our economy.
“This is also an attempt to undermine public confidence in President Ramaphosa whose leadership has been defined by moral and ethical conduct,” party spokesperson Pule Mabe said in a statement Tuesday.
The leaked emails, published by News24, showed that Ramaphosa was consulted by his campaign managers on certain potential donors, despite consistent denials from his team that he was not involved in any fundraising efforts.
The string of emails formed part of Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s investigation and subsequent report on the response Ramaphosa had given to DA leader Mmusi Maimane in Parliament in November 2018.
Maimane had asked about a supposed payment to the president’s son, Andile, from corruption-accused company Bosasa (now African Global Operations).
But it turned out the payment Maimane mentioned was actually a donation to Ramaphosa’s campaign for the party presidency from Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson – which Ramaphosa himself later revealed in a letter to the speaker of Parliament.
Mkhwebane found that Ramaphosa had deliberately misled Parliament over the donation and in reaching her conclusion, she relied heavily on the emails.
Ramaphosa has since filed for a judicial review of the public protector’s report,
