South Africa’s opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), on Thursday said it is planning to table a motion in parliament calling for an early election, reported The BBC.
The call for an early election comes after a parliamentary panel’s probe found President Cyril Ramaphosa may have breached anti-corruption laws in connection with the alleged theft of a large amount of money from his Phala Phala game farm.
The country’s former head of intelligence, Arthur Fraser, accused Ramaphosa of concealing the theft of a huge sum of cash at his farm in 2020. He accused the president of money laundering and violating South Africa’s foreign currency control laws.
Ramaphosa has been accused of covering up theft of around $4m from his farm, including kidnapping and bribing the burglars into silence. He continues to deny any wrongdoing.
A three-member independent parliamentary panel, led by an ex-chief justice submitted its recommendation report to National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula in Cape Town on Wednesday. The panel had been set up in September.
The country’s parliament will examine the report on the scandal and decide whether or not to launch impeachment proceedings against Ramaphosa next week.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said the country cannot leave it up to the ruling party to “choose the future of our country”, referring to the upcoming ANC conference where Mr. Ramaphosa will seek a second term as the leader of South Africa’s ruling party that would enable him to run again for presidency in 2024.
Mr Steenhuisen said Nelson Mandela’s party has become a cess pit of corruption, greed and dishonesty from top to bottom. He added that the motion for an early election would need a simple majority of 50% plus one of the national assembly to vote for the dissolution of government, which would then trigger an early election.
