Cyril never laid a hand on me, says ex-wife in Malema rebuke

In the wake of a claim by EFF leader Julius Malema that there have been rumours in the ANC that Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa beat his first wife, she has reportedly said any such suggestion is completely false.

Malema was reacting to ANC Women’s League president Bathabile Dlamini’s statement defending Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister Mduduzi Manana after he assaulted two women at a nightclub last week, as other members “had done worse”.

In an interview with Capricorn FM on Monday evening, Malema said the ANC should come out and tell the nation if Ramaphosa used to abuse his first wife.

“Let me tell you why Bathabile says there are worse people than Mduduzi Manana in the ANC. She is referring to Cyril Ramaphosa; they are saying he used to beat up his wife,” Malema said.

Ramaphosa’s son Andile said on Twitter on Tuesday that Malema was spreading fake news about his parents.

“Respectfully, this story is fake news. How would you feel if someone went around spreading lies about your parents?…Totally unacceptable,” he said.

Now, the woman herself has also said Malema is barking up the wrong tree.

Hope Ramaphosa told Eyewitness News: “I’m absolutely shocked that someone in his capacity as a leader could do that. My first reaction was shock.”

She said Ramaphosa simply did not have it in his character to be violent towards a woman, adding that Cyril was someone who did things “amicably” and would “rather negotiate than beat [people] up”.

She said they had been together for a long time and the billionaire politician-turned-business-turned-politician was “very sensitive to women’s issues”.

Ramaphosa is vying to become the country’s next president, and his ex-wife also expressed her firm support for his bid.

The EFF has a stormy relationship with the deputy president, who oversaw the appeals hearing that saw Malema and Floyd Shivambu expelled from the ANC.

Shivambu subsequently called him a “murderer” in parliament in relation to the Marikana massacre.