Come clean on your Bosasa money, Mr President – Mmusi Maimane

DA leader Mmusi Maimane says President Cyril Ramaphosa needs to say exactly how much money he received from Bosasa and what Bosasa got in return.

The president also needs to show his son Andile’s contracts with Bosasa along with details of the money paid to him, Maimane said - adding that there must be a full investigation into the matter.

The DA leader was speaking at the party’s Gauteng East campaign launch in Germiston, Ekurhuleni, on Saturday.

Maimane said that on Friday afternoon he had received an email with a letter from Ramaphosa to the speaker of parliament in which he had “tried to explain how half a million rand that we all thought was suspiciously paid from Bosasa to his son, was actually paid from Bosasa to his own campaign for ANC president”.

“Remember, Bosasa is a company that landed billions of rands of government contracts. If the money had been for his son, it would be a massive conflict of interest at best. But the fact that the money was for the president himself makes this far, far worse.

“This looks suspiciously like all other ANC government corruption deals: A company pays money to a politician or the party in exchange for contracts, often at massively inflated prices. But they never pay it directly to the politician or party – there’s always a third party or a trust account in between. Which is what appears to have happened here too,” Maimane said.

He said this went beyond just campaign financing.

“This is a kind of insider trading – where a company ‘invests’ heavily in a candidate, knowing that it will pay off multiple times over if the candidate is successful through preferential treatment when it comes to tenders. No wonder the president didn’t declare this payment – it’s dirty money. Maimane charged.

“And Ramaphosa is not the only one to have scored here. A long list of ANC ministers and other cadres of the party 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,” Maimane charged.

He said Ramaphosa had had a week and a half to think about how to explain this money since he (Maimane) had asked him about it in Parliament last week.

“Initially he claimed he knew about his son’s work for Bosasa – he even said he’d seen the contract. But since I asked to see that contract, he has decided to come clean and admit the money was actually for him.

“He now wants us to believe he knew nothing of the money at the time it was paid. Just like he knew nothing of the Guptas and of state capture, and of the looting at our state-owned enterprises for the entire time that he was Deputy President and chair of the ANC’s deployment committee.

“That’s not a good enough answer. He needs to tell us – and he needs to show us – exactly how much money he received from Bosasa, and what Bosasa got in return. Plus he must still show us his son’s contracts with Bosasa along with details of the money paid to him. There has to be a full investigation into this matter,” Maimane said.