Ramaphosa facing biggest test after ‘dodgy donation’
President Cyril Ramaphosa has been forced onto the back foot after he admitted this week that his election campaign received a donation from politically connected Bosasa CEO, Gavin Watson.
According to a report by the Sunday Times, Ramaphosa admitted that an amount of R500,000 – disclosed in parliament by DA leader Mmusi Maimane – was paid to help fund his campaign, and was not for work that his son Andile had done for the Bosasa logistics group, as previously stated.
Bosasa, now known as African Global Operations, has previously been named as a benefactor to several other high-profile ANC figures.
Speaking to the paper, Ramaphosa’s campaign manager, Bejani Chauke, said the president was not aware of the money donated to the campaign by Bosasa and was only informed about it after he was asked in parliament by DA leader Mmusi Maimane.
According to Chauke the records show that the R500,000 payment, made in October 2017, was made to an Absa account named ‘Efg2’ believed to be an attorney’s trust account.
“The fundraising team has confirmed to us (the campaign management team) that the funds referred to in a parliamentary question on 6 November 2018 were paid into a trust account that was one of the avenues used by the CR17 campaign to temporarily house the funds raised for the campaign,” he said.
However Maimane said he was not convinced by Ramaphosa’s explanation.
“If they pay back the money it doesn’t change anything. It’s the same as VBS. You can’t loot and when you are caught you pay it back.
“It’s like resigning when you are found to have done wrong,” he said.
Read: 8 new laws Ramaphosa is about to sign that every South African needs to know about
Loading ...