Lindiwe Mazibuko weighs in on Ramaphosa's CR17 campaign funding

Former DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko has weighed in on the controversy surrounding President Cyril Ramaphosa's campaign funding.

This after the contents of leaked emails allegedly revealed that Ramaphosa knew who offered donations to his CR17 ANC presidential campaign.

The ANC has since rubbished the emails as "nothing but a calculated manoeuvre to defocus and detract from the immediate task of socio-economic issues and dealing with the challenges of our economy".

Speaking on eNCA on Tuesday, Mazibuko said she thinks Ramaphosa, like many other past leaders, has carried himself in a way that is concomitant with the law.

"I think I am interested to hear what the outcome of the investigation will be.

"I think it is devastating that it requires half a billion rand to contest an internal election in our country today," Mazibuko said.

She said Ramaphosa and other leaders like him have a duty in the country to measure themselves in terms of ethics by more than just the standard of the law.

"If you are the head of a campaign, you have a duty to know every single penny that's coming into your campaign and to be able to account for it.

Listen to the latest episode of Sunday Times Politics Weekly

The sun sets quickly on Ramaphosa's 'new dawn'

For more episodes, click here.

Subscribe: iono.fm | Spotify | Apple Podcast | Pocket Casts | Player.fm

"On a personal level, I happen to believe him when he says he did not know about Bosasa. He did come clean in the Parliament and said it very clearly, but I don't think it is enough," she said.

Mazibuko said there needs to be a sense of renewal for the country to go forward, adding that there needs to be training for the next generation of ethical leaders.

"We still have essentially the founding fathers of our democracy leading the political charge and no sense of renewal, either in the private sector or the public sector," she said.

"When I talk about renewal, I don't necessarily mean from an age perspective, but from a sense of, in order to future proof an organisation.

"You have to do succession planning, you have to train the next generation of ethical leaders. That doesn't seem to be happening, either in the public or private sector. There's sort of a group of older dons who run both sectors and it's something that needs to fundamentally change."