The African National Congress (ANC) has announced that President Cyril Ramaphosa will pay back the R500 000 donation that Bosasa Security Company Chief Executive Officer Gavin Watson made to fund his election campaign for African National Congress presidency.
Ramaphosa revealed in a letter he wrote to the National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete that the deposit was made into a trust fund account of his son Andile, without the President’s knowledge.
Last week, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane questioned the President in Parliament on the donation and he responded that he thought the payment was for his son’s consulting services but was later contradicted when Andile denied receiving the alleged payment.
ANC spokesperson in the Presidency Zizi Kodwa says Ramaphosa has since called for an investigation into all donations made to his party election campaign.
“The president has indicated that because the donation was made without his knowledge, and therefore he has decided voluntarily that he will pay back the said amount and therefore he will call on for further investigation on all donations that were made to the campaign on his behalf. “
Meanwhile, Parliament’s former Joint Ethics Committee Co-Chairperson and ANC veteran Ben Turok says there is no evidence that Ramaphosa is a dishonest man.
Turok has cautioned against quickly accusing the President of wrongdoing. According to Turok Ramaphosa should be given the benefit of the doubt and allow him to clear the mystery surrounding the Bosasa payment saga.
“I have great respect for the President Cyril Ramaphosa and I think that since he became president he has done a lot of good things to clean up the mess left by Zuma. Therefore we need to be very careful about suggesting any wrongdoing. It seems that some confusion was possible because the money from Bosasa went to the trust run by Andile and maybe it was not clear as to whether it was for the consultancy or whether it was for the election campaign. It is so important that we should not rush to conclude. And I would like very much to see that President Ramaphosa make a very clear statement, perhaps even a press conference setting out exactly what the situation is. He does have to clear up the mystery.” Author- Mbali Thethani
