A vote for Ramaphosa is a vote for Zuma’s arrest – Mngxitama

Black First Land First (BLF) leader Andile Mngxitama has released a statement reacting to a damning report issued by a review panel appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa and chaired by former minister Sydney Mufamadi, which found that the State Security Agency (SSA) was manipulated by former president Jacob Zuma.

The report revealed “political malpurposing and factionalisation of the intelligence community” over the past decade or more that has resulted in an almost complete disregard for the Constitution, policy, legislation, and other prescripts, the presidency said on Saturday.

Mngxitama says his party is “angered by the continued unwarranted attacks on President Jacob Zuma by the Ramaphosa-Stellenbosch faction”.

His press release repeats apparent conspiracy theories often espoused by him and his party, with BLF having expressed the view that Ramaphosa is an “agent” of  white monopoly capital (WMC) on multiple occasions.

“Ramaphosa has no shame. He has now mandated the self-confessed hater of President Zuma, one Sydney Mafumadi, to invent propaganda against President Zuma. The so-called report on Zuma’s alleged abuse of intelligence services is nothing but a desperate attempt to manufacture new charges against President Zuma,” the statement says.

READ MORE: Panel reveals evidence of ‘political malpurposing and factionalisation’ in intelligence community

“BLF is aware that land thieves and owners of the South African economy like Johann Rupert and the Oppenheimer families want President Zuma in jail. The Mafumadi so-called ‘High Panel’ is nothing but a tool of WMC to prepare grounds to lay another set of false charges against President Zuma,” it continues.

The party has also mentioned Rupert and the Oppenheimers on multiple occasions as those they believe attempt to control the country on behalf of WMC.

“It is now patently clear that white monopoly capital plans to use Cyril Ramaphosa to arrest President Zuma after the elections. Imperialism has tested this method in Brazil where an innocent man is in jail. President Lula da Silva is jailed because he is like President Zuma, a threat to the system that oppresses the excluded majority.

“BLF shall continue to stand with President Zuma against the unjust persecutions. President Zuma’s only sin was to introduce Radical Economic Transformation (RET).

“President Zuma is being punished for saying land expropriation without compensation must be implemented. President Zuma is punished for rejecting the World Bank and IMF for BRICS. President Zuma is punished for taking South Africa out of the white man’s kangaroo court called the International Criminal Court.

“BLF wants all justice loving people to know, voting for Ramaphosa is to vote for the arrest of President Zuma. We say defend President Zuma, vote for BLF,” the statement concludes.

The presidency released a statement following the release of the damning report by a high level review panel appointed to look into alleged misconduct involving the SSA.

“President Cyril Ramaphosa has authorised the publication of the report of the high level review panel on the SSA, which has assessed the mandate, capacity, and organisational integrity of the agency,” the presidency said in a statement.

READ MORE: Zuma hits back over spy report, claims panel featured apartheid collaborators

“A key finding of the panel is that there has been political malpurposing and factionalisation of the intelligence community over the past decade or more that has resulted in an almost complete disregard for the Constitution, policy, legislation, and other prescripts,” the presidency said.

The Citizen reported on Sunday evening that former president Jacob Zuma appears to have hit back against the report, which made numerous unflattering claims about how intelligence structures operated during his time as president – going as far as to say it was run as a criminal enterprise.

Political scientist Wayne Duvenage told The Citizen that he believes Ramaphosa’s decision to release these findings to the public two months before an election was more of a pushback against Zuma’s powerful faction in the party than an attempt to score anti-corruption points with voters.

“I have no doubt the operational centre of state capture and Zuma’s power was the intelligence agencies. There is evidence that even now these agencies still support this faction.

“I think Ramaphosa made the report public not to benefit himself in the election, but to get back at the Zuma onslaught within his party and put the Zuma faction on the backfoot, including Fraser, who is at the inner core of that.”

(Additional reporting by Simnikiwe Hlatshaneni)

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