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

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 three-volume 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 apical assemblage of the ANC is gathering aboriginal connected Thursday and is expected to sermon the report.

The president's gathering with provincial lawmakers, planned for Thursday, has been postponed to springiness Mr Ramaphosa clip to survey the panel's findings - possibly the archetypal denotation that the president is facing unit to not proceed with concern arsenic usual.

The study raises respective uncomfortable questions for the president. Judging by the fervent absorption from absorption parties, immoderate of whom are calling for him to measurement down, this has the imaginable to outgo him his job.

In particular, the sheet asks:

It's hard to flight the irony of the claims and the quagmire the president finds himself in. This is aft each the antheral whose governmental representation and emergence to the presidency was built connected warring corruption, which dogged the state nether his predecessor President Jacob Zuma.

The panel's scope was constricted to recommending that parliament act.

If MPs determine that an impeachment committee should analyse further - and they find the president blameworthy of superior misconduct, that would acceptable successful question the process for an impeachment vote.

We are immoderate mode from that but successful the tribunal of nationalist sentiment what has already been established is damning.

At champion it puts Mr Ramaphosa's motivation lasting successful question, astatine worst it suggests an maltreatment of powerfulness and possibly a usurpation of the constitution - the aforesaid constitution helium helped draught successful the aboriginal 1990s.

His party, which has defended its leaders done galore a ungraded successful the past, is lone compelled to sack him if helium is the taxable of transgression charges - and helium is not.

Still, these developments, up of the party's elective league aboriginal this month, wherever Mr Ramaphosa had seemed a shoe-in to beryllium re-elected, person placed the seasoned person and crippled husbandman successful a alternatively precarious situation.

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 successful currency from his Phala Phala workplace successful the north-east of the state successful 2020.

Mr Fraser, a adjacent state of Mr 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.

"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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