Insiders say Ramaphosa could be fired and charged with treason: report
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and his presidential campaign team are preparing for the worst, as speculation mounts that he is about to get the chop and be criminally charged for treason.
According to a report by the City Press, Ramaphosa’s ANC presidential campaign lobbyists believe that he will be removed to facilitate the appointment of Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, so that she can be the one to establish a commission of inquiry into state capture.
His lobbyists also said they were aware of plans to arrest Ramaphosa and charge him with treason in November, just ahead of the ANC’s December conference.
One lobbyist said that president Jacob Zuma was under pressure to appoint a commission of inquiry into state capture, but because Zuma himself was implicated in state capture allegations, he could not appoint the commission, and has to leave it to his deputy.
“The president does not trust Cyril with the appointment of the judge and the terms of reference. They want the commission to be like the arms deal, which dragged on forever. Witnesses were frustrated and there was no real outcome,” the lobbyist told the paper.
‘Good news’
While removal continues to hang over Ramaphosa’s head, some of his supporters believe it may actually be to his benefit as it would allow him to intensify his campaign efforts
Ramaphosa told members of the National Assembly on Thursday that he served at the pleasure of the president and that he would accept a removal if it came to that.
He added that he would find another way to serve South Africa.
“That would allow us to have him 24 hours. At the moment, we can only have him on weekends,” said a lobbyist close to Ramaphosa.
They said it was now up to Zuma to deal with the expectation he had created that Dlamini-Zuma would be appointed to Cabinet.
According to sources in the Dlamini-Zuma camp, speaking to the City Press, they were surprised by Ramaphosa’s acceptance of his fate in Parliament this week.
They said that the ‘real’ cabinet reshuffle was still coming.
“This was just to deal with the communists and test to see how far they are actually willing to go. The ball is in their court.”
You can read the full story in today’s City Press.
Read: UK authorities flag Dlamini-Zuma in Gupta investigation: report
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