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Maimane wants Ramaphosa to appear at Zondo commission over Bosasa

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Andile Ramaphosa
Andile Ramaphosa

DA leader Mmusi Maimane has urged deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo to force President Cyril Ramaphosa to give evidence at the state capture commission before the crucial May 8 polls.

Maimane said on Wednesday afternoon that he had made a written request to Zondo earlier in the day. The request comes on the same day in which News24 revealed that the president’s son, Andile Ramaphosa, had been paid R2 million by Bosasa in a business deal which Ramaphosa junior now claims to regret.

“I have written to deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo to request that president Cyril Ramaphosa must appear there before the 8th of May. We are going into a tough electoral cycle; we are going to elect a party which will eventually elect the president.

"Mr Ramaphosa already received a contribution from Bosasa of R500 000. It is clear that his son has been benefiting from that relationship and the triangle works really well. You buy a president to lead the country, that president sets up contracts, Bosasa gets those contracts and then you reward family members,” Maimane said.

“It is important that Ramaphosa appears before the commission and responds to these questions because Bosasa is to Cyril Ramaphosa what Nkandla was to Jacob Zuma and therefore it becomes important for the people of South Africa. If they are going to go and elect a leader, you best know what type of leader we are electing.

“I asked him twice in Parliament about this and at first he gave us one story and then later he had to change. The second time I asked him about the figures of the contract and he pretended not to know and said the matter was with the Public Protector. Mr Ramaphosa was deputy to Mr Zuma when state capture was happening. He can’t claim ignorance. Bosasa was part of his project.”

Maimane is also awaiting feedback from the Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, who is investigating the relationship between Bosasa and the president after the DA leader laid a complaint with her.

Ramaphosa’s campaign team – established for his bid for the ANC presidency in the run up to the 2017 Nasrec conference – had last year promised to pay back all money donated to Ramaphosa, which the team said remained in a trust account. It was never made clear exactly how much was in the account and who the donors were.

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