If Ramaphosa loses his review we will demand he step down: ANC veterans

The ANC Veterans League's support for President Cyril Ramaphosa is not a blank cheque and they would be the first to call for him to step down if he loses the review of the section 89 panel’s report into the Phala Phala scandal.

Snuki Zikalala, convener of the league’s task team, told TimesLIVE Ramaphosa should be given space to challenge the report in court.

However, if the Constitutional Court finds against him, they will call for his axing as president.

Zikalala is one of Ramaphosa’s staunch allies and the task team nominated him for re-election at the ANC’s national conference next week.

He said the report by the panel, which found he may have a prima facie case to answer regarding the robbery at his Phala Phala farm, was not explicit in its findings.

“First, the panel failed to make a conclusive finding in terms of what it was instructed to do, so that is why we agree with him when he says, ‘I’m taking the report on review’,” he said.

“But if the outcome is negative, we will say he must step down. If he is found wanting, we will demand he step down. There's no doubt about that. We have to put the country’s interests first.”

Zikalala said their initial thought when the report was released last week was Ramaphosa must go.

“We were shocked by the findings. Initially, when we read the panel’s report, we did not go deeper into it, we just said, 'no, he must go'. That was our first reaction, but when we went deeper into the findings [we found] it has lots of loopholes like ‘he may have’. You cannot punish a person on issues like ‘may’, you must have concrete evidence that this person has violated the constitution.

“They, the panel, were unable to ascertain that because they did not have investigative powers. That is why when he says he’s taking the matter on review. we agree with him.”

Zikalala said until a negative outcome on the president is declared they will rally for his re-election at the conference next week.

“We are supporting the president. All we’re saying is every individual has the right to justice. This cloud is hanging over him, but at the same time there are serious contradictions in terms of what the panel has found. Every time the panel says he ‘may have’, you see, now that’s a problem.

“Second, we’re saying the Hawks and South African Revenue Service are investigating whether he violated foreign currency rules. So we can’t take a position until the findings have been concluded. We can’t say, 'no, we don’t want him', because they have not concluded their investigations.”

Ramaphosa is leading branch nominations for ANC president, making him the front-runner ahead of his opponent former health minister Zweli Mkhize.

TimesLIVE

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