President Cyril Ramaphosa has an impeachment case to answer over serious violations of the Constitution for exposing himself to a conflict of interest, doing outside paid work and contravening the Prevention of Corrupt Activities Act, according to the Section 89 independent panel report.
The carefully phrased 72-word recommendation at the end of the 82-page report came 10 hours after the official, ceremonial handover of the report to Parliament.
Those findings will throw the ANC, already wracked by jockeying ahead of its Nasrec elective conference, into disarray — just at a time when Ramaphosa seemed secure as the frontrunner in the party’s presidential contest.
It now remains to be seen how the ANC parliamentary caucus, which previously stepped up to defend its president, will respond. The Section 89 independent assessment panel report must be adopted by the House to come into force — and lead to the next step, the establishment of an impeachment committee.
If the ANC decides to oppose this, it will blow up in an already tense political terrain and raise further questions about accountability, transparency and responsiveness in South Africa’s constitutional democracy.
The Section 89 report raises questions over explanations over the source of the US dollars…