A top official in South Africa’s African National Congress party threw his weight behind President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday over the “Farmgate” scandal in which thieves stole bundles of cash stuffed in a sofa on Ramaphosa’s ranch.
Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula, in charge of the day-to-day running of the ANC, backed Ramaphosa at the start of a party meeting about how to handle the scandal.
The ANC blocked impeachment proceedings against Ramaphosa over Farmgate in 2022 but the constitutional court revived the process last week.
Mbalula told reporters that calls for Ramaphosa to step down were opportunistic, after Ramaphosa faced them down.
“In terms of the (court) judgment, there’s nothing that says he (Ramaphosa) must actually resign as the president of the country,” Mbalula said.
He said the meeting of the ANC’s National Executive Committee, a decision-making body that guides members, would consider the entirety of the judgment and would not be bullied on what to do.
Ramaphosa will not take part in the meeting so senior party members can freely discuss issues, Mbalula added.
The scandal raised questions about how Ramaphosa acquired $580,000 in cash that he said was stolen from his farm, whether it was properly declared, and why it was stuffed in furniture rather than deposited in a bank.
It has proven a major embarrassment for Ramaphosa, who came to power in 2018 on a pledge to fight corruption and clean up the image of the ANC.
Political analysts say there is still a long way to go in the impeachment process and Ramaphosa will likely survive if it goes to a vote in parliament.
They say the ANC is likely to close ranks around its embattled leader, whose current term is due to end in 2029.
An impeachment vote requires a two-thirds parliamentary majority to pass, and even though the ANC’s support has dropped at successive elections it still has about 40% of the seats in the lower chamber, the National Assembly.
