Ramaphosa considered quitting last week after the panel released its damning findings. That option was scrapped at the weekend when his spokesman Vincent Magwenya said Ramaphosa will file a lawsuit to contest the “clearly flawed” findings and that he will seek a second term as leader of the governing African National Congress at its five-yearly elective conference next week.

The president has said the cash at his farm came from the sale of 20 buffalo to a Sudanese businessman, and his farm manager stored it in a couch in a spare bedroom at his private residence because he thought that would be the safest place to keep it. Ramaphosa denied doing anything wrong or interfering in the investigations — assertions that were rejected by the panel headed by former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo.

Ramaphosa, 70, a lawyer, former union leader and one of the richest black South Africans, took office in 2018 and was the clear frontrunner to win a second term as ANC leader and president before the panel released its explosive findings.