EFF slams eNCA after owner exposed as a CR17 funder

A front-page report in the Sunday Independent has detailed a long list of names of individuals and groups who donated funds to Cyril Ramaphosa’s CR17 Nasrec election campaign in 2017.

The presidency yesterday slammed the media leak, implying it may have come directly from Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s office, and questioning whether she had obtained the bank statement of the campaign in a lawful manner herself.

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson argued that the campaign’s right to privacy had been infringed.

Ramaphosa’s legal team had been trying to prevent this donor information from being made public, while Mkhwebane has long made it clear she intended to release the information.

In the leaks, it appears that some of Ramaphosa’s main funders were numerous wealthy businesspeople, including mining magnate Nicky Oppenheimer, who reportedly gave R10 million, Pick n Pay founder Raymond Ackerman, who gave R1 million, and many others.

Even former Absa CEO Maria Ramos’ name crops up.

But it was an alleged R2 million donation from news channel eNCA founder, director and owner of Hosken Consolidated Investments Johnny Copelyn that really raised eyebrows, particularly among members of the EFF, who have long complained that the news channel has pushed a pro-Ramaphosa agenda and is the mouthpiece of the “white establishment” or even “white monopoly capital”.

The Sunday Independent report also revealed who in Ramaphosa’s circle received the largest portions of the campaign finance.

The newspaper often appears to have the inside track on information from the public protector. The Sunday Independent was the first paper to break the news that Mkhwebane would come down hard on Ramaphosa in her investigation of his campaign financing, including that the CR17 team allegedly may have committed money laundering.

They revealed this weeks before the report was actually made public, and it turned out to be accurate.

These are some of the main funders of CR17. None of them look like majority of members of the party they hypnotized through cash. Clearly the white capitalist established has rented a president to the erstwhile liberation movement. And most definitely this is no free later lunch! pic.twitter.com/0p2XJlMM93

— Floyd Shivambu (@FloydShivambu) August 11, 2019

How the path to power was paved with a billion Rand #RamaphosaLeaks

If there was a sign of the degeneration of ANC; this is it

Ever wonder about the silence of those Foundations that used to call press conferences on Gupta Capture? Where are ANC veterans or Integrity Committee? pic.twitter.com/VVYZhkSyTA

— Mbuyiseni Ndlozi (@MbuyiseniNdlozi) August 11, 2019

Ekare @ENCA e batla hoidaftisa about their owner funding Ramaphosa? #RamaphosaLeaks

Remember how #AsItHappens used Ramaphosa’s face poster as background to main frame, even when the entire conversation for 30 min had absolutely nothing to do with “Ramaphosa Administration”? pic.twitter.com/LLFBSoJi5G

— Mbuyiseni Ndlozi (@MbuyiseniNdlozi) August 11, 2019

https://twitter.com/DjNewSouthAfric/status/1160484427417432064?s=20

Maria Romos bought a PIC board member position for R1m…

— Luxon (@Lucky_Nhlanhla1) August 11, 2019

Aspen and its director donated millions to CR17 campaign and secured themselves an R18bn contract with government at the beginning of this year. pic.twitter.com/92rhHTFE59

— Sentletse 🇷🇺🇿🇦🇵🇸 (@Sentletse) August 11, 2019

What the #RamaphosaLeaks demonstrate is a conflicted President with ZERO integrity! Period! pic.twitter.com/4PO9Dlemuq

— Mbuyiseni Ndlozi (@MbuyiseniNdlozi) August 11, 2019

Here's Gavin Watson. His company #Bosasa received more than R12bn in government contracts. He attended wedding ceremony of Cyril Ramaphosa's son in Uganda. He donated R500k to #CR17 campaign.#RamaphosaLeaks pic.twitter.com/rWsJHTrYTT

— Bra Hloni (@BraHlonisky) August 11, 2019

In a statement on Saturday, the presidency confirmed that confidential banking information about the contributors to and recipients from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s CR17 campaign had been leaked to the media.

Spokesperson Khusela Diko said the information, supposedly held only by the public protector, included bank statements of third parties, which had recorded private transactions and which were “strictly confidential”.

Laws that may compel public office bearers and parties to declare significant campaign donations have not yet been enacted in South Africa.

“The Presidency notes with grave concern what amounts to a violation of the constitutionally enshrined right to privacy. This is all the more troubling as it seems clear that this information had been, from the first instance, obtained in an illegal manner,” said Diko.

On Saturday, Ramaphosa’s lawyers asked for some information about his donors to be kept confidential in the ongoing court case between Ramaphosa and Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, as he has taken her findings and recommendations about his Bosasa donation and other donations on legal review.

“The legal representatives of President Cyril Ramaphosa have requested the Court that certain information contained in the record of the Public Protector’s investigation into allegations against the President not be made public. This request is pending a determination on whether the information was obtained lawfully and whether it was lawfully sourced in relation to the complaint under investigation.

“It should be noted that, should the request be granted, nothing prevents the Court from deciding, once it has established the lawfulness of the source of documents and the appropriateness of it being included in the record, that some or all of the information should be made public.”

Diko said the “selective circulation of this banking information” was intended to cast aspersions on the president, and followed the recent report of the public protector in which there was a “substantial focus on the funding of the CR17 campaign”.

“Neither the president nor the campaign has done anything wrong, ethically or legally. It is a common and accepted practice in South Africa and across the world for parties and candidates to raise funding from donors for campaigns.

“From the outset, the CR17 campaign team and the candidate agreed that this should be a clean campaign that operated within the necessary legal prescripts and in line with the values and principles of their organisation.

“It was agreed that the campaign would raise funds from private individuals who supported the effort to restore the integrity and cohesion of the ANC and to put South Africa back on a path of growth and transformation, with an explicit understanding that their contribution would earn them no special favours or undue advantage.

“Funds were raised from a broad cross-section of South African society, sometimes with the help of supportive individuals who had access to various networks. More than a hundred individuals made contributions to the campaign according to their means. The donations were made on a confidential basis.”

Mkhwebane had suggested in her report that Ramaphosa’s campaign may have been given more than R400 million by donors, though Ramaphosa’s legal papers allege she massively miscalculated the funding since she allegedly got the opening dates of the accounts wrong and did not take account of inter-account transfers and interest payments in making her calculations.

Diko said the president had indicated in both the response to the Section 7(9) notice from the public protector as well as in his founding affidavit to the court that the funds had been used to support a range of campaign activities including mobilisation, communication, research, security, administration, logistical support (travel and accommodation) as well as stipends and salaries.

“Funds were also provided to co-ordinators in provinces throughout South Africa. The coordinators used these funds to organise meetings and rallies, arrange transport, hire venues, provide accommodation etc.”

She said the president wanted to assure the South African public that CR17 was run as a clean campaign and “in the spirit of some of this country’s rich democratic traditions- namely accountability, honesty and integrity”.

(Edited by Charles Cilliers)

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