Johannesburg - The South African Communist Party (SACP) has come out guns blazing, saying the names of the funders of all African National Congress leadership candidates in the 2017 elective conference must be revealed and not only those who supported President Cyril Ramaphosa.
"The SACP resolutely rejects being drawn into a one-sided focus on the fundraising details of the leadership contest associated with the last conference of the ANC. It would be appropriate for ANC members and the public at large to receive a full disclosure of the sources of all the funds that were donated, received and used in the course of the contest, regardless of candidates involved," the party said in a statement on Tuesday.
"For the above reasons, the SACP is of the view that it would be in the best interests of the ANC and our movement as a whole to consider regulating funding for internal leadership campaigns as strongly argued by the president himself prior to and at the last national executive committee meeting."
President Cyril Ramaphosa won the governing party's presidency in a close contest, narrowly beating Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. Jeff Radebe, Zweli Mkhize, Lindiwe Sisulu, Baleka Mbete and Mathews Phosa who had also put their names in the hat to replace Jacob Zuma.
Controversies surrounding Ramaphosa's 'CR17' funding has been in the spotlight for weeks, with the president's detractors calling for his head and the Public Protector concluding he had misled Parliament.
The high court on Monday granted the president an interdict to suspend remedial action Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane ordered against him, pending a full review of her findings on the funding campaign.
Mkhwebane's report last month found that Ramaphosa misled Parliament about a R500,000 donation from controversial logistics company Bosasa. A batch of CR17 campaign emails, which have since been leaked to media, identified wealthy South Africans who donated millions of rands to ensure Ramaphosa succeeded Zuma.
The Sunday Independent reported that a group of politicians earned millions for their role in Ramaphosa's successful campaign at the Nasrec elective conference.