Cyril’s Bosasa bonanza raises uncomfortable questions

It is encouraging that President Cyril Ramaphosa will pay back the R500,000 donated by African Global Operations (formerly Bosasa) to his campaign last year to unseat Jacob Zuma as head of the ANC.

However, we do not believe the country should go as far as applauding Ramaphosa for doing the right thing – because there is still a nagging suspicion that something is not quite right about the whole affair.

Even if we accept the assurance that Ramaphosa was not paid the money directly, nor was any member of his family or his foundation – and there is presently no way to verify this – there is still the inescapable reality that he was paid money by a company to help further a political end.

It is unlikely any company contributing to a political cause does so for altruistic reasons, so one would have to wonder what Bosasa expected in return.

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That is not an unfair question to ask of the company, which has been linked to some questionable relationships and payments to those with political influence.

Most recent of these was senior ANC MP Vincent Smith, who resigned as a parliamentary committee chair after it emerged he had received payments of R670,000 from Bosasa, as well as house security improvements worth more than R200,000.

Another question that needs to be asked is whether Ramaphosa is hiding behind “plausible deniability” because of his apparent lack of knowledge of the latest payment.

At the heart of this incident, though, is confirmation that we need to have a transparent and open system that allows voters to see who funds a particular political party.

Interestingly, despite all of their claims that they are democrats and committed to good governance, none of our major political parties will agree to this.

Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

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