Farmgate — Ramaphosa emerges unscathed
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As the ANC gears up for campaign season ahead of the 2024 national elections, newly re- elected party president and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa remains untouched by the allegations levelled against him by former spy boss Arthur Fraser.
Fraser laid criminal charges against Ramaphosa in June 2022 for alleged money laundering, kidnapping and corruption in connection with the alleged theft of $4m from the head of state’s Limpopo farm in 2020. The charges led to a section 89 independent panel being formed to investigate the allegations, a parliamentary debate and a subsequent vote by MPs to determine if an impeachment process ought to be initiated against the president, with the saga following him into the ANC’s 55th national elective conference. Despite the panel's report finding the president may have acted unconstitutionally and the scandal hogging headlines in the second part of the year, Ramaphosa seems to have walked away relatively unscathed. In this wrap of the Farmgate saga, we consider how we got here and what implications the Phala Phala scandal will have on the president’s political future.
Fraser laid criminal charges against Ramaphosa in June 2022 for alleged money laundering, kidnapping and corruption in connection with the alleged theft of $4m from the head of state’s Limpopo farm in 2020. The charges led to a section 89 independent panel being formed to investigate the allegations, a parliamentary debate and a subsequent vote by MPs to determine if an impeachment process ought to be initiated against the president, with the saga following him into the ANC’s 55th national elective conference. Despite the panel's report finding the president may have acted unconstitutionally and the scandal hogging headlines in the second part of the year, Ramaphosa seems to have walked away relatively unscathed. In this wrap of the Farmgate saga, we consider how we got here and what implications the Phala Phala scandal will have on the president’s political future.