Pressure mounted on Thursday for President Cyril Ramaphosa to step down or face ouster over a cash theft at his farm that he allegedly covered up.
As the ruling African National Congress (ANC) announced it would hold emergency talks on Friday, a source close to Ramaphosa told AFP the embattled president was “considering all options.”
Ramaphosa canceled a scheduled question-and-answer session in Parliament on Thursday.
The national currency, the rand, fell nearly three percent as the crisis escalated.
Opposition leaders and Ramaphosa’s critics launched a flurry of demands that he resign.
Senior cabinet minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who ran unsuccessfully against Ramaphosa as ANC leader in 2017, said “the president must now step aside and answer for the matter.”
The left-wing opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said “his best course of action is to resign immediately.”
South Africa’s largest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, has called for early elections, saying the country is facing a “seismic change”.
Ramaphosa has been under fire since June, when the former South African spy boss lodged a police complaint.
It alleged that Ramaphosa had hidden the theft from the authorities at his farm in Fala Fala in northeastern South Africa.
Instead, he allegedly organized the kidnapping of the robbers and bribed them into silence.
The vast sums pumped into the farm have cast a dark shadow over Ramaphosa’s bid to portray himself as corruption-free after the corruption-tainted era of Jacob Zuma.
impeachment risk
On Wednesday a three-person inquiry submitted a report to parliament concluding that Ramaphosa may have committed “serious breaches and misconduct”.
The report will be examined by Parliament on 6 December.
The debate could open the way for a vote to impeach Ramaphosa – a word that in South Africa means removal from office.
Ramaphosa, in his presentation to the panel, strongly denied any wrongdoing and warned of “the interest of the stability of the government and the country”.
But the scam, complete with details of more than half a million dollars hidden under a pillow at the ranch, has come at the worst possible moment for him.
On 16 December, he contests the presidency of the ANC – a position that also holds the key to staying on as national president.
A spokesman for the embattled leader had previously told AFP Ramaphosa was “likely” to address it on Thursday, but gave no details.
Party spokesman Pule Mbe told reporters that the ANC’s national executive committee – the party’s decision-making body – is due to hold urgent talks on Friday.
Ramaphosa took office at the helm of Africa’s most industrialized economy in 2018 on a promise to root out corruption.
He now risks becoming the third ANC leader since the party came to power following the end of apartheid in 1994.
Impeachment, in South Africa, means the removal of the President.
Section 89 of the constitution gives the National Assembly the right to remove a sitting speaker provided the vote is supported by at least two-thirds of MPs.
Serious violations of the Constitution, serious misconduct or inability to perform the functions of office are permitted grounds for an impeachment motion.
Ramaphosa’s predecessor Zuma survived four impeachment votes until his own party, the ANC, forced him to resign in 2018 over corruption.
The ANC also forced Thabo Mbeki out of office in 2008 amid a power struggle.
cash in the couch
The South African public is intrigued by the details in the investigation, particularly the more than $580,000 in cash that was stolen from under sofa cushions at his farm.
Ramaphosa said the amount was paid by a Sudanese national who had bought the buffaloes.
He said that the farm workers initially locked the money in the office safe.
But a manager then decided that the “safest place” to store it would be under a sofa cushion inside Ramaphosa’s residence, he said.
Ramaphosa told the inquiry that the allegations against him were “without any merit” and asked him “not to pursue” the matter.
But the panel concluded that Ramaphosa did not report the theft directly to the police.
He had acted in a manner inconsistent with the office he held and exposed himself to a conflict between his official responsibilities and his private business.
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