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ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa. PHOTO: Alfonso Nqunjana/News24
- ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa says he's not upset with ANC MPs who voted with the opposition in Parliament to adopt the Phala Phala report.
- Ramaphosa maintains he will subject himself to any processes concerning Phala Phala.
- He says the party's 55th national conference did not have to deal with the matter as it is being handled by state institutions.
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa has defended the party’s decision not to discuss Phala Phala at its 55th conference in December and again last week when the conference concluded in Bloemfontein.
Speaking to eNCA on Monday, following his delivery of the January 8 statement on Sunday in Bloemfontein, Ramaphosa said the delegates were not preoccupied with discussing Phala Phala because they know the matter is being handled “properly” by state institutions and the ANC’s integrity commission.
He said because the matter was being addressed, delegates felt it would be dealt with at the right time and through the right processes.
This is even though the matter dominated internal party discussions, following the release of the Section 189 report and going into the conference.
Ramaphosa rejected any suggestions that the matter was not discussed because delegates feared they would be dealt with if they brought it up.
READ | Phala Phala won't be discussed at conclusion of ANC conference, says Fikile Mbalula
“There is confidence in the processes that are under way to handle this matter, so you cannot ascribe it to be fear or any form of avoidance. There is confidence in the processes that are under way,” he said.
Ramaphosa has taken the panel's report, which was led by former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, on legal review directly to the Constitutional Court, but this didn't stop Parliament from dealing with it.
Ramaphosa added:
Once you have processes and structures, and systems of handling a matter, you best leave everything to those structures and systems and processes because anything else outside of that is very, very speculative, is very tentative. If you have confidence in the ability of those structures to handle matters then you should leave it to them.
Days before the conclusion of last week's conference, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula told a media briefing that the report would not be discussed at the conference and would be dealt with by the national executive committee (NEC).
"There will be no Phala Phala issue on the discussion at the ANC conference; there will be two issues on the table... to finalise, reports from the commissions and constitutional amendments.
"The issue of the Phala Phala report was referred to the NEC. The committee will deal with the Phala Phala issue if it arises," Mbalula said at the time.
'I've moved on'
The ANC president also said that he was not “upset” with ANC MPs who defied the party’s instruction to vote against the adoption of the Phala Phala report in Parliament.
Five MPs, including a minister in Ramaphosa’s cabinet, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, voted with the opposition in Parliament to adopt the report.
Later, Dlamini-Zuma said she had done so to give Ramaphosa space to respond to the allegations.
However, the motion failed, and Ramaphosa survived an impeachment vote.
On the ANC MPs who voted with the opposition, Ramaphosa said:
I am not upset; I am never upset by things like that. And these are political processes; you take them in tandem and you move on.
Ramaphosa told the SABC that he has been clear that he will subject himself to whatever processes he had to face regarding Phala Phala.
“That is my mantra,” he said.
He said he did not want to pre-empt anything regarding investigations that were still outstanding. The Public Protector is also yet to release a report on the Phala Phala saga.
“We deal with issues as they come and as they arise ... let us not pre-empt anything. I have said that I am going to be cooperating fully and that is what the ANC, my organisation, has appreciated. I will cooperate with all processes as they unfold. I have kept my word when it comes to that. So, let us see then how everything unfolds. This is an issue we will deal with as we move on,” said Ramaphosa.
READ | Crime, service delivery, load shedding top priority for ANC in 2023, Ramaphosa tells supporters
He said the newly elected leadership of the ANC was “steaming ahead” and would not be “deterred by anything” in serving “the interests of our people”.
Ramaphosa said members of the ANC had, through his overwhelming victory at the 55th conference, shown that they still trusted him to lead the organisation and the country, despite the Phala Phala saga.
He won the ANC presidential race by more than 500 votes compared to his rival, former health minister Zweli Mkhize.
“They, themselves, invested confidence in me and they have elected me to serve the people of South Africa. So, from that point of view, I will do what the members of the ANC and the people of South Africa require of me,” he said.
Ramaphosa also refuted claims that he had resigned following the release of the Section 189 report.
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