JOHANNESBURG - South Africa’s anti-graft ombudsman ruled that President Cyril Ramaphosa violated the constitution and executive ethics code when he misled lawmakers about a campaign donation from a company implicated in paying bribes to senior government officials. The rand fell.
The ruling by the Public Protector against a sitting president is unprecedented, and starkly illustrates the challenges Ramaphosa has faced in bedding down political control since he succeeded Jacob Zuma as leader of the deeply divided ruling African National Congress in 2017.
The president has said he didn’t know about a 500,000-rand ($36,000) payment services company Bosasa made to his campaign to win control of the ANC, inadvertently failed to disclose it and rectified his mistake as soon as possible.