CAPE TOWN - President Cyril Ramaphosa's office on Wednesday confirmed he had received a notice from Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane informing him that he had been implicated in her investigation into the R500 000 his campaign received from Bosasa chief executive Gavin Watson.
In terms of the section 7(9) notice, issued in terms of the Public Protector Act, Ramaphosa has 10 days to respond to Mkhwebane's report.
"The president has written back to Advocate Mkhwebane. He's requested an extension of the ten-day period but also elected to exercise his entitlement to question firstly the complainant, Mr [Mmusi] Maimane and several other witnesses that would have appeared before the Public Protector during the course of this investigation," Presidency spokeswoman Khusela Diko said.
"It's important to reiterate that president Ramaphosa remains fully committed to cooperating with the Public Protector in the course of her investigation and he trusts that this matter will soon be brought to finality."
At the weekend, the Sunday Independent reported that the leaked preliminary report by Mkhwebane found Ramaphosa had violated the Constitution and breached the Executive Ethics Act when he had "inadvertently" misled Parliament last year by failing to declare that his campaign to become ANC president had received the half a million rand donation from Watson.