The Public Protector’s ‘Ramaphosa report’ is 6 months overdue and must be released immediately

Issued by Mmusi Maimane – Leader of the Democratic Alliance
10 Jun 2019 in News

The Democratic Alliance (DA) notes reports regarding the leaking of the Public Protector’s report on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Bosasagate scandal.

Today I will write to the Public Protector, Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane, requesting that she release the full unredacted report within the next 48 hours.

Over 6 months ago, President Ramaphosa misled Parliament about the R500 000 “donation” received from Bosasa CEO, Gavin Watson, and the clear conflict of interest that exists between him, his son, Andile Ramaphosa and Bosasa. I submitted a complaint to the Public Protector on 23 November 2018 about the President misleading parliament and the conflict of interest in the relationship between the President, his son and Bosasa.

On the 9th of April I met with Adv Mkhwebane to obtain an update on my complaint who confirmed that while she had initially hoped the investigation would be finalised by February 2019, it became apparent during the process of investigating the matter that the nature and extent of the relationship between the Ramaphosa’s and Bosasa runs much deeper than initially thought. However, noting that the Executive Members’ Ethics Act states that ‘The Public Protector must investigate a complaint on an alleged breach of the code of ethics by a member of the National Assembly and submit a report within 30 days of receipt of the complaint, Adv Mkhwebane’s report is almost 6 months overdue leaving her with no choice but to act immediately and release the report in the interest of the public.

The immediate release of this report will leave no room for further leaks and speculation and allow the public and Parliament to hold President Ramaphosa to account for his actions.

It is high time that Presidents, and their families’ who mislead Parliament are treated as equal before and held to account to the fullest might of the law.