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South Africa’s Leader Rejects Calls for Resignation
(MENAFN) South African President Cyril Ramaphosa defiantly rejected calls for his resignation Monday, digging in after the Constitutional Court ruled last week that parliament had acted unlawfully by blocking impeachment proceedings against him in 2022.
"While there have been calls in some circles that I should resign, nothing in the Constitutional Court's judgment compels me to resign my office," Ramaphosa said in a televised address to the nation.
The controversy stems from a 2022 finding by an independent panel appointed by the National Assembly, which concluded that Ramaphosa may have been guilty of serious misconduct linked to a theft at his private game farm.
The incident dates to 2020, when burglars made off with $580,000 in cash concealed inside a sofa at Ramaphosa's rural property — a theft he never reported to police. The revelation drew fierce criticism, with detractors accusing the president of money laundering and demanding transparency over the origin of the hidden funds.
Ramaphosa flatly denied any wrongdoing, insisting the stolen money represented "proceeds from the sale of game."
"I have never stolen taxpayers' money. I want to reaffirm that I was not involved in any criminal conduct," he said at the time.
Last Friday's landmark ruling by the Constitutional Court declared that the independent panel's recommendations must be enacted through a referral to a parliamentary impeachment committee "unless and until the report is set aside on review." The bench found that the National Assembly had acted unconstitutionally when it voted to reject the panel's findings — findings that established a prima facie case for the president to answer.
Rather than stepping aside, Ramaphosa announced he would challenge the independent panel's report through an expedited legal review, seeking to prevent the matter from advancing to a parliamentary impeachment committee.
"I do so not out of disrespect for parliament or its processes but to affirm the need for such findings to be correct in law and in fact, especially where parliament's work would be based on and informed by a report I believe is flawed," he said.
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