South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party has said it will block attempts to impeach the country’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, at a crucial vote in parliament on Tuesday, providing relief to the embattled leader after days of uncertainty about his political future.
Ramaphosa launched legal action on Monday to challenge a report handed over last week by an independent panel appointed by parliament that accused him of serious misconduct after the theft from his private game ranch of somewhere between $500,000 (£410,000) and $5m in cash almost three years ago.
The funds, reportedly the proceeds of the sale of cattle, were allegedly hidden in a sofa when they were taken.
Ramaphosa, 70, has been accused of holding undeclared foreign currency, tax evasion, failing to inform police about the robbery and misusing state resources by ordering a senior presidential bodyguard to track down the thieves, who then appear to have been paid off. He has denied all wrongdoing.
After first telling supporters he was going to resign, Ramaphosa has now sought a judicial review of the report which his spokesman has described as flawed.
With the ANC dominant in parliament it seems unlikely there will be enough votes for impeachment to go ahead. The party has been in power for 28 years.
The ANC’s decision to vote against the motion comes after a frantic 48 hours of meetings of the party’s top decision-making bodies.
The “Farmgate” scandal has reopened deep divisions between factions within the party, encouraging the president’s opponents.
The prospect of weeks of infighting, at least until the ANC holds a conference scheduled for later this month to appoint a leader for another five years , will inflict further damage on South Africa’s flagging economy.
“President Ramaphosa is not resigning based on a flawed report, neither is he stepping aside,” his spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, said on Saturday.
“It is in the long-term interest and sustainability of our constitutional democracy, well beyond the Ramaphosa presidency, that such a clearly flawed report is challenged, especially when it’s being used as a point of reference to remove a sitting head of state.”
Ramaphosa has welcomed a separate police inquiry into the allegations. He has not been charged with any crimes and will stand for re-election as party leader at the conference in 12 days time.
Most ANC politicians recognise that Ramaphosa remains the only party leader with broad appeal, which may mean parliamentarians will hesitate before initiating a process that could remove him from office with general elections expected in 2024, observers said.
The ANC’s historic popularity has been battered by soaring unemployment, continuing violent crime, rolling nationwide power cuts and allegations of endemic corruption.
The party has lost support in towns and cities in recent years, with its vote share of around 50% maintained only by backing from poorer, rural communities where the party’s brand of patronage-based politics works best.
“The most important thing is for all of us to accept that there is no ‘better ANC’ or ‘better people in the ANC’. The entire organisation, from top to bottom, is rotten, with only smatterings of integrity,” the columnist Songezo Zibi wrote on the Daily Maverick news website.
“For those who believed that Ramaphosa could miraculously change the character of the party for the better, I hope they can now see that this was a pipedream … Even if Ramaphosa were to survive the chop, he is severely compromised.”
Opposition parties have sought to stiffen support for an impeachment, an unprecedented move under South Africa’s constitution.
“We call on all the people of South Africa to unite in defence of our constitution and the rule of law,” a coalition including the centre-right Democratic Alliance and the populist far-left Economic Freedom Fighters said in a statement on Saturday.
The Democratic Alliance also called on Monday for the dissolution of the national assembly, while the Economic Freedom Fighters argued for a no-confidence motion to be tabled. Neither has much chance of success given the ANC’s dominance in parliament, analysts said.
