The South African parliament members on Tuesday voted against launching an impeachment process against President Cyril Ramaphosa over a report that claims that he held undeclared foreign currency at his Phala Phala game ranch in 2020, reported The Africa News.
The impeachment voting in the parliament followed a report by an independent panel that accused Ramaphosa of serious misconduct after Arthur Fraser, filed a complaint with police accusing the president of hiding a theft of $4m (£3.25m) in cash from his Phala Phala game farm in 2020.
The panel’s investigation report said he did not inform the South African police about the theft of the money to avoid questions over how he got the foreign currency and why he gave no information about it to the authorities.
The report has brought Ramaphosa’s opponents, opposition parties and even rivals within his ANC party to call for him to step down.
On Tuesday, some 214 lawmakers voted against setting up an impeachment committee, while 148 voted in favour, two abstentions were registered. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, which holds a majority in the parliament, largely stood with the president, preventing the motion from getting the two-thirds vote needed to proceed with impeachment.
The ANC lawmakers said that the investigation panel’s report did not present enough evidence to warrant the impeachment of Ramaphosa and that other law enforcement agencies are still investigating the matter.
Four ANC lawmakers, however, voted in favor of the impeachment process, including Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who is currently a minister in Ramaphosa’s Cabinet and high-ranking ANC leader. Dlamini-Zuma had lost the ANC presidency bid against Ramaphosa at its last national conference in 2017.
The 70-year-old South African president continue to deny any wrongdoing and called the report as “flawed”. He has challenged the report in the Constitutional court.
