Ramaphosa set for tough week as more CR17 leaks emerge

Johannesburg - President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to face a tough week as he prepares to submit his reply to oral questions in Parliament on Thursday. This comes amid the revelation of details of his CR17 presidential campaign.

Ramaphosa’s 2017 campaign was yet again thrust in the spotlight as the EFF on Sunday revealed that one of their MPs, Tebogo Mokwele, had also benefited from the CR17 campaign.

The party said Mokwele had confessed that the funds were put towards the bereavement of one of her family members, adding it was yet to decided what action it will take against Mokwele.

“Commissar Mokwele’s confirmation that she received the money after speaking to President Ramaphosa is a confirmation that Ramaphosa was directly involved in the account that was paying money to different recipients in the CR17 campaign,” the party said.

EFF Statement On EFF MP And Commissar Tebogo Mokwele Receiving Money From Cyril Ramaphosa pic.twitter.com/Fb2yuhWPxm

— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) August 18, 2019

Speculation is rife that other members from the ANC obtained funds from the campaign. News reports surfaced at the weekend that Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, who was the ANC’s head of campaigns at the time and State Security Deputy Minister Zizi Kodwa, also had payments channelled to them.

Mbalula, however, took to social media to defend himself, saying the money was paid to him long after the conference.

“You guys are just gullible check when the deposit was made 03 jan 2019 , It had nothing to do with CR17 campaign. #CR17leaks #RamaphosaLeaks #CR17BankStatements,” Mbalula said on Twitter.

%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/CR17leaks?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CR17leaks #RamaphosaLeaks #CR17BankStatements

— Minister of Transport |Mr Fix 100days (@MbalulaFikile)

Meanwhile, the announcement by the EFF on Mokwele and leaked financial statements detailing payments made to high profile individuals in the campaign come after last week’s North Gauteng High Court order that the information related to the number of people who had received or contributed funds to Ramaphosa’s presidential campaign to become the ANC president at its national elective conference in Nasrec in December 2017 be sealed.

By Sunday night, the Presidency and Public Protector advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane had not reacted to the documents leaked or news of the payments made.

However Durban-based independent political analyst Thabani Khumalo said the ongoing revelations from the CR17 funds were deeply knocking the reputation of Ramaphosa as a man who came to power to clean the image of the country after lurching from one scandal to another in the past nine years.

He added that there was little that Ramaphosa could do to cleanse his image, saying people would now start recalling that he was part of the previous leadership that was being questioned.

DA leader Mmusi Maimane, whose complaint against Ramaphosa resulted in an investigation into the donations, has indicated that he will yet again use his platform on Thursday to grill Ramaphosa over the R500000 the ANC leader received from Bosasa.

Political Bureau