What just happened
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- Kirstie Alley, star of Cheers and Look Who’s Talking, died of cancer at 71.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has rallied to the defence of President Cyril Ramaphosa in the face of efforts to impeach him. Ramaphosa stands accused among other things of
- tax evasion;
- undeclared foreign currency holdings;
- failure to report the theft of at least $580,000 sewn into a sofa at his Phala Phala farm; and
- misuse of state resources in assigning a presidential bodyguard to track down the suspects.
This is the Ramaphosa who fought apartheid alongside Mandela, built a business empire in mining, farming and telecoms in the years of Black Economic Empowerment, and last month made a state visit to the UK as the first official guest of Charles III.
He denies all wrongdoing and yesterday won the formal backing of the ANC’s leadership, which has instructed its MPs to vote against impeachment proceedings in parliament. Since they hold 57 per cent of the seats, he’s safe for now.
So what?
The allegations are detailed and serious. A timeline:
May 2019 – Ramaphosa leads the ANC to victory in national elections with 57.5 per cent of the vote on an anti-corruption platform.
February 2020 – At least $580,000 stuffed in a sofa is stolen from Ramaphosa’s farm at Phala Phala, in Limpopo province.
June 2022 – Arthur Fraser, South Africa’s former spy chief and an ally of Ramaphosa’s predecessor, Jacob Zuma, makes a criminal complaint against Ramaphosa about the Phala Phala theft.
30 November – An independent panel appointed by parliament concludes that Ramaphosa should be investigated and possibly impeached. The panel’s report includes allegations by Fraser that the sum stolen from the farm was in fact between $4 million and $8 million and that another $20 million was “moved” elsewhere when Fraser asked for Ramaphosa to be investigated; and Ramaphosa’s claim that the $580,000 he admits was stolen was the proceeds of the sale of 20 buffaloes.
5 December – ANC leaders agree to back Ramaphosa and instruct MPs to block impeachment efforts in a parliamentary session scheduled for next week.
The context. Rolling blackouts, rising unemployment and violent crime and endemic political corruption have left South Africans despairing of the ANC. “Forget that stuff about a rainbow nation. I don’t know why anyone would support the ANC,” says Nyanda Lawrence, a bookshop assistant in northern Johannesburg. “I don’t know who to support. I am furious with the ANC and… everything.”
Ndaba Mahlangu, who came to South Africa from Zimbabwe looking for work in 2005, says South Africa is failing. “The heroes from the ANC are failing, and we are getting to a point with youth unemployment that no one knows what to do, or who to vote for.”
The ANC holds a leadership vote at its party conference later this month. South Africa’s next scheduled national elections are in 2024.
The ANC, with nearly three times as many seats in parliament as the next biggest party, can still circle its wagons round an embattled leader. But having done so for nine years for Zuma (eventually jailed for contempt of court), the former liberation movement is now, for many, a byword for graft. It could lose its overall majority for the first time in 2024.
The alternatives. If the ANC does lose power, unstable coalitions beckon at best. The Democratic Alliance and the hard-left Economic Freedom Fighters currently command barely 30 per cent of the popular vote between them. Within the ANC, if Ramaphosa were to be unseated, he’d be replaced as things stand by his deputy, David Mabuza, just back from the latest in a series of private trips to… Moscow.
