Faizel Patel – 01/072021

The Constitutional Court has found that President Cyril Ramaphosa never wilfully mislead Parliament or personally benefitted from the donations made to the CR17 campaign for the ANC presidency.

Justice Chris Jafta handed down the judgment on Thursday morning.

The court dismissed Public Protector Busisiwe Mkwebane’s appeal of the High Court’s findings on funding for Ramaphosa’s presidential campaign.

“Therefore, the Public Protector was wrong on the facts and the law with regards to the issue whether the president had wilfully misled parliament and the High Court was right to set aside her finding. ”

Justice Jaftha said Mkhwebane  found that the R500,000 donation from the CEO of African Global Operations passed through several intermediaries and this raised the suspicion of money laundering.

“But the evidence placed before her, dispelled all of this. The donation passed through only one account and not several intermediaries.”

Jafatha said political leaders, Musi Maimane and Julius Malema, in their complaints to Mkhwebane did not mention breach of the Executive Ethics Code by the president.

The court also ruled that the Public Protector did not have the authority to investigate the matter as political parties are private entities.

However, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng dissented on this, saying that Ramaphosa had a duty to disclose his donors.

In the 2019 report, Mkhwebane found Ramaphosa had deliberately mislead MPs and recommended he be investigated by the Speaker and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).