Cyril Ramaphosa: South African president faces threat of impeachment over 'Farmgate'

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa is facing a imaginable impeachment menace implicit the "Farmgate" scandal.

The president has been accused of covering up a $4m (£3.3m) theft from his workplace successful 2020, including kidnapping and bribing the burglars into silence.

A leaked study from an autarkic sheet has recovered that Mr Ramaphosa abused his presumption and whitethorn person breached an anti-corruption law.

He has denied wrongdoing, and said the wealth was from selling buffalo.

The panel's findings person been handed to parliament, which is acceptable to analyse them and determine whether oregon not to motorboat impeachment proceedings adjacent week.

Mr Ramaphosa is little than a period distant from a league which volition determine if helium tin tally for a 2nd word with his party, the African National Congress (ANC), successful 2024. The incidental could beryllium peculiarly damaging arsenic Mr Ramaphosa ran for bureau connected an anti-corruption ticket.

The ANC volition clasp a gathering with its enforcement connected Thursday, wherever it is expected that the contented volition beryllium discussed.

The Farmgate ungraded erupted successful June, erstwhile a erstwhile South African spy boss, Arthur Fraser, filed a ailment with constabulary accusing the president of hiding a theft of $4m from his Phala Phala workplace successful the north-east of the state successful 2020.

Mr Fraser, who is simply a adjacent state of erstwhile President Jacob Zuma, alleged that the wealth could person been the proceeds of money-laundering and corruption, and accused the president of kidnapping and bribing the burglars.

Holding specified a ample magnitude of wealth successful dollars could interruption overseas speech power laws.

Mr Ramaphosa has confirmed a robbery, but said the magnitude stolen was little than that alleged, and denied attempting to screen it up.

Some $580,000 which had been paid successful currency for buffalo was stolen from nether sofa cushions successful the farmhouse, helium said.

"I did not 'hunt' for the perpetrators of the theft, arsenic alleged, nor did I springiness immoderate instructions for this to instrumentality place," helium wrote successful a submission to the panel's report, according to AFP quality agency.

The sheet concluded that determination were galore unanswered questions, calling it a "very superior matter".

Little accusation was kept astir the antheral who supposedly paid the wealth for buffalo, it said, adding that helium had inactive not collected the animals 2 and a fractional years later.

The sheet besides said it was unusual that the wealth had been kept hidden successful a sofa, alternatively than successful a harmless until it could beryllium lodged successful a slope account.

"We deliberation that the president has a lawsuit to reply connected the root of the overseas currency that was stolen, arsenic good arsenic the underlying transaction for it," the study said. It added: "The president abused his presumption arsenic caput of authorities to person the substance investigated and seeking the assistance of the Namibian president to apprehend a suspect."

Namibian president Hage Geingob has antecedently denied immoderate engagement successful the incident.

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