Johannesburg - President Cyril Ramaphosa has successfully petitioned the North Gauteng High Court’s Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba to seal the banking details of his CR17 donors arguing that the Public Protector Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane had allegedly obtained the documents illegally.
The ruling of Judge Ledwaba was confirmed by Mkhwebane’s spokesperson Oupa Segalwe after legal representative of Mkhwebane and the Presidency met with Judge Ledwaba on Thursday morning following a complaint lodged by Ramaphosa’s legal counsel on Thursday last week.
Judge Ledwaba’s decision means that the public will not have access to the records.
Last week, Ramaphosa lawyer Peter Harris wrote to Ledwaba saying: “We submit that the bank statements of EFFG2, Linked Environmental Services, Ria Tenda Trust and Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation accounts contain confidential information which must be protected.”
On Sunday, however, The Sunday Independent published the names of various eminent persons in South Africa who included Nicky Oppenheimer and PIC board member Maria Ramos and said they were part of the people who apparently contributed almost R1 billion towards Ramaphosa’s ANC presidential campaign ahead of its national elective conference in December 2017.
Segalwe appeared disappointed by the Judge Ledwaba’s decision to seal the records.
“The Judge took a decision to seal the records purely on the basis of the insinuations that the records were obtained illegally. It appears that the President was only interested in protecting his donors who did not make representation that they did not want their details of financial funding be made public,” Segalwe said.
He, however, said Mkhwebane will not challenge the Judge’s decision.