South Africa

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Public Protector won’t comment on Bosasa Ramaphosa donation ‘report’

In 28 months, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has managed to thoroughly damage the institution of her office and its capabilities. (Photo: Leila Dougan)

The Public Protector will not be commenting on a news report claiming that she found President Cyril Ramaphosa guilty of "inadvertently misleading" Parliament over the R500 000 Bosasa donation, her office tweeted on Sunday.

 

“Adv. Mkhwebane and her office will not comment on the contents of any news report or leaked document that purports to be hers as that could potentially jeopardise her investigations and prejudice the subjects of the probes [sic],” her spokesperson Oupa Segalwe stated.

This relates to a report on IOL that last Thursday Ramaphosa received a draft copy of a report into Mkhwebane’s probe into a R500 000 donation from Bosasa to his election campaign for the presidency of the ANC.

The publication claims that the report states that Ramaphosa may have breached the code of ethics by exposing himself to a risk of a conflict of interests.

In the tweet, Segalwe said that the publication claims to have obtained a document leaked by a presidential confidant that is linked to an investigation she is carrying out following DA and EFF complaints against the president.

He said reports of the Public Protector are released officially by Mkhwebane to complainants, respondents and the public in terms of S182 (5) of the Constitution, read with sections one and three of the Public Protector Act.

The statement did not comment on whether the document was legitimate or not.

When news of the payment to Ramaphosa’s son Andile from Bosasa surfaced last year via a question by opposition DA leader Mmusi Maimane, Ramaphosa told Parliament in October he had spoken to his son about it.

He said there was nothing untoward about the payment. He was told his son had been paid for consultancy work for Bosasa, whose directors are in the spotlight for alleged corruption.

His son afterwards said he had not received the claimed amount.

Ramaphosa corrected himself in a letter to Parliament dated November 14, saying he had inadvertently provided incorrect information.

News24 reported him as stating: “I have been subsequently informed that the payment referred to…does not relate to that contract.

“I have been told that the payment to which the leader of the opposition referred was made on behalf of Mr Gavin Watson into a trust account that was used to raise funds for a campaign established to support my candidature for the presidency of the African National Congress.” – News24

 

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