Political foes to push Ramaphosa to quit

Despite confirmation that President Cyril Ramaphosa will not resign over the Phala Phala scandal, his political foes are expected to pile pressure on him to resign when the ANC’s national executive committee meets to discuss the matter on Monday.

An independent panel headed by retired chief justice Sandile Ngcobo said in its report released last week that Ramaphosa may have broken some of the country’s anticorruption laws in connection with the theft of millions of dollars from his Limpopo farm in late 2020.

While Ramaphosa has denied any wrongdoing, the damning findings were seen as having the potential to weaken his chances of re-election as ANC president at the party’s national elective conference starting on December 16.

Business Day reported that Ramaphosa will not resign and will stand for a second term as party leader during the national congress.

It was reported previously that Ramaphosa had told his closest allies that he was not opposed to stepping aside over the matter, but that he had been convinced by cabinet members and provincial party bosses to stay on and fight the report. Ramaphosa now intends to take the Ngcobo report on legal review, with legal experts arguing that there is a chance it could be set aside.

On Tuesday, the National Assembly will convene its last plenary session to debate the panel’s report.

Meanwhile, parliament is expected to apply to the Constitutional Court this week for an extension of the December 10 deadline it imposed for the Electoral Amendment Bill to be on the statute books. The bill provides for independent candidates to stand for national and provincial elections.

From Monday until Saturday, parliament’s portfolio committee on co-operative governance and traditional affairs will undertake an oversight visit to the Eastern Cape on the implementation of the Cultural Initiation Act. Also on Monday, the committee inquiring into public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office, will enter its day 40 of hearings. Mulao Lamula, who heads the Western Cape office of the public protector, is set to continue testifying.

Lamula has so far told the inquiry that Mkhwebane was “harsh” at times and “irritated” when people did not do their jobs — but this was because she was results driven‚ as proved by her reducing backlogs and achieving three clean audits.

“I never heard her being rude ... the tone of her voice is always the same‚” Lamula told the panel, disputing previous evidence that she insisted on being called “Madam” and wanted to be worshipped.

Public service unions are this week expected to say whether they will embark on indefinite strike action over their demands for a 10% pay increase.

They had given the government until Friday to respond favourably, saying failure to do so would lead to industrial action aimed at disrupting government services.

While the department of public service & administration said it will respond to the unions, it is still unclear what the response has been.

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY WILL CONVENE ITS LAST PLENARY SESSION TO DEBATE THE PANEL’S REPORT