IN QUOTES | EFF reject court's finding on CR17 donation

The EFF has rejected the Pretoria high court ruling on the public protector's report regarding a controversial donation made to President Cyril Ramaphosa's CR17 campaign, saying it would appeal at the Constitutional Court.

On Tuesday, the high court issued its judgment on the matter regarding public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's findings on former Bosasa boss Gavin Watson's donation to the CR17 campaign.

The report related to the R500,000 Ramaphosa has admitted to having received from Watson for his  presidential campaign during the ANC's 2017 elective conference.

TimesLIVE reported that the high court said Mkhwebane’s findings deliberately misled parliament about the donation, and cleared the president of lying.

While the DA has called for Mkhwebane to resign, the EFF issued a statement lambasting the president.

Here are six quotes from the EFF's statement:

Rejection

“We reject the logic that Ramaphosa did not personally benefit from the CR17 funds. How can a man who received billions in funding from key business figures not properly declare what he’s received?

“The finding exposes the court for its role in weakening the authority of parliament. We shall therefore appeal the ruling at the constitutional court.”

Ridiculous

“The finding that Ramaphosa did not mislead parliament is not only ridiculous, it exposes the court as an institution complicit in weakening parliament.

“From here on, no one, from members of the executive to state bureaucrats who come to account to parliament, will ever respect the principle to not lie under oath.

'Ramaphosa admitted'

“There is definitely no argument as to whether Ramaphosa misled parliament or not.

“Even Ramaphosa himself admits to this, hence he corrected his initial version when answering questions about the R500,000 donation from Bosasa.”

Violation of equality

“It is a direct violation of the foundation of our constitutional order: equality before the law.

“Equality before the law means Ramaphosa must be subjected to the same scrutiny that [former president Jacob] Zuma and many others faced when they violated the constitution, laws and rules of parliament.”

Appealing the judgment

“Appealing this judgment therefore means we seek to give the highest court in the land the opportunity to either correct the unreasonableness of the Gauteng North high court, or join in obliterating the principles of equality before the law, transparency and accountability.

“Let the Constitutional Court also participate in sealing documents and hiding information against the constitutional principles of access to information."

End of constitutional democracy

“If the constitutional court says Ramaphosa does not have to declare funds he personally benefited from to be president of the ruling party, on that day it will be the end of our constitutional democracy as we know it.”