THE DA said on Thursday that it will continue to push for President Cyril Ramaphosa to appear before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) to explain his stated knowledge of the misuse of State funds.
This comes after the ANC voted on Wednesday night against Ramaphosa appearing before SCOPA.
The committee’s meeting on Wednesday dealt with the response received from Ramaphosa as well as a legal opinion obtained from the parliamentary legal office regarding the leaked recording of the president addressing an ANC meeting and saying:
“Each one of us knows that quite a bit of money that is used in campaigns in bussing people around, in doing all manner of things is often from State Resources and Public Resources and we cannot kid ourselves when it comes to that.”
DA Member of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Alf Lees said on Thursday that the decision by the ANC to block the president’s appearance ‘is a complete obfuscation and a vain attempt to divert SCOPA’s attention away from the clear message that Ramaphosa “knows” of the misuse and fraudulent abuse of State funds.’
“The ANC appears to have followed party orders by backpedalling furiously from the prior unanimous SCOPA decision to invite President Ramaphosa to appear before the committee to answer questions should his written response not be a full and clear one,” said Lees.
“The ANC members made every effort with long monologues to justify yet further delays in calling President Ramaphosa to account. In the end, the ANC used their majority to protect President Ramaphosa and their party of being once again exposed for the criminal syndicate they are.”
- * Inside Politics
