Durban - President Cyril Ramaphosa's refusal to disclose the fee Bosasa paid his son, Andile Ramaphosa, for advisory services, showed the president had something to hide, said DA leader Mmusi Maimane on Thursday.
During Thursday's oral question session in Parliament, Maimane asked Ramaphosa to come clean and disclose the fee Bosasa paid Andile for “strategic and financial advisory services”. Ramaphosa had previously said that he had seen the contract between Andile and Bosasa and it was above board.
Bosasa has been accused of massive fraud and corruption at the ongoing Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, with several high ranking government and ANC officials also implicated.
"The President flatly refused to answer my question, stating that the Public Protector is considering the matter. This is disingenuous and simply not true. The Public Protector is investigating whether President Ramaphosa misled Parliament and violated the Executive Ethics Code - not what his son earned from Bosasa," said Maimane via an emailed statement.
He said Ramaphosa was accountable to Parliament, not the Public Protector, and his refusal to disclose the information showed "there’s something serious to hide between the Ramaphosa’s and Bosasa".
"It is no surprise that the President was hastily protected by the Speaker of Parliament, Baleka Mbete. It cannot be that the President is allowed to get away with not accounting to Parliament, as was the case under the Zuma Presidency. We have moved from a parliamentary culture of protecting uBaba ka Duduzane, to now protecting uBaba ka Andile.
"It is clear that President Ramaphosa is compromised when it comes to Bosasa. He received a R500 000 “donation” from a company that has been paying the ANC bribes to secure government tenders for almost two decades. This smacks of “Corruption 101”. Bosasa gives money to ANC officials, including President Ramaphosa himself, and in turn the ANC in government hands lucrative tenders to Bosasa worth billions of rands. It is this corrupt relationship that also leads to individuals like the President’s son, Andile Ramaphosa, striking multimillion-rand business deals with Bosasa," said Maimane.
He said Ramaphosa and his son were not the only ones to have benefited from Bosasa.
"A long list of ANC ministers and other cadres of the party have received extensive security upgrades like CCTV cameras, alarm systems and electric fencing free of charge from Bosasa. This list includes Gwede Mantashe, Nomvula Mokonyane, Thabang Makwetla, Dudu Myeni, Linda Mti, Mbulelo Gingcana and Vincent Smith. The company also allegedly funded former President Jacob Zuma’s birthday bashes in 2015 and 2016, to the estimated value of R3.5 million," said Maimane.
This "system of corruption" was part of the ANC's fabric, regardless of who led the organisation, he said.