South Africa’s opposition Democratic Alliance (AD) party has tabled a motion in Parliament to call for early elections in the wake of the scandal that has engulfed President Cyril Ramaphosa over the theft of a farm he owns.
«AD is calling for early national elections,» party leader John Steenhuisen has said. «Not one that involves delegates at an African National Congress (ANC) conference, but one that gives all South Africans the opportunity to decide their future,» he added.
Ramaphosa was deputy president of South Africa between 2014 and 2018, at which time the ANC appointed him as a replacement for Jacob Zuma, who had to resign beset by corruption scandals. He was confirmed by Parliament following his party’s victory in the 2019 legislative elections.
The opposition party has indicated that the scandal rocking Ramaphosa «confirms that the ANC is rotten from top to bottom», before the Parliament examines a report on Ramaphosa’s actions around the theft of four million dollars (about 3.8 million euros) in 2020 on a farm owned by him.
Ramaphosa had called for an address to the nation during the day on Thursday, although he eventually postponed it. Presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya said afterward that President Ramaphosa «has not panicked».
In a report, which retired judge Sandile Ngcobo handed to Parliament Speaker Nosiviwe Maphisa-Nqakula on Wednesday, a panel found that Ramaphosa had committed four serious breaches of the anti-corruption law and that there is prima facie evidence against him, The Star newspaper reported.
Ramaphosa, who had focused his discourse on the fight against corruption after his arrival to the Presidency, saw in early May his aspiration to be the ANC candidate for the 2024 elections endorsed, after one of his allies revalidated his position as leader of the party in the Eastern Cape province.
