Presidential Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya says President Cyril Ramaphosa is seriously considering taking the Section 89 Panel Report handed over to the Speaker of Parliament this week, on legal review. The panel was led by retired Justice Sandile Ngcobo, and found that the president may have a case to answer regarding the robbery at his Phala-Phala game farm robbery in 2020.
According to Magwenya President Ramaphosa believes the report is flawed and needs to be taken on legal review, and is currently consulting widely on the matter and a decision will be announced soon.
“The president is seriously considering taking the section 89 panel report on review. It maybe in the long term interest and sustainability of our constitutional democracy, well beyond the Ramaphosa presidency that such a clearly flawed report is challenged.” Magwenya adds
A critical juncture
Meanwhile, Wits governance expert, Professor Alex van den Heever, says South Africa needs to separate the executive arm of government and the administration of government if it is to move beyond the years of state capture.
According to Van den Heever the country is at a critical juncture.
Van den Heever further adds that the negative reaction both in the markets and society in general to reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa may have been considering resigning is a function of the recent years of state capture as well as the amount of power concentrated in the presidency.
President Ramaphosa has denied any wrongdoing after a complaint was laid by former State Security Director General Arthur Fraser indicating that the President had failed to report the theft of a large amount of US currency from his farm in Limpopo.
Video: ANC NEC special meeting to discuss Section 89 postponed: Professor Alex van den Heever
The ANC has confirmed that its National Executive Committee will reconvene tomorrow at Nasrec, South of Johannesburg, to continue its deliberations on the Section 89 Expert Panel’s report on the Phala Phala farm theft.
Video: ANC NEC’s Phala Phala meeting adjourned: Pule Mabe
