Set up an investigation into yourself, Maimane tells Ramaphosa

DA leader Mmusi Maimane has released a statement announcing the fact that he was written to president Cyril Ramaphosa asking him to set up an independent inquiry into the Bosasa scandal, which involves the president himself as well as his family.

Last week the president did a u-turn on the reason he’d given for why half a million rand had been paid to his son Andile by the controversial facilities management company formerly known as Bosasa, now called African Global Operations.

Maimane himself dropped the bombshell in parliament, saying he had a proof of payment and affidavit showing a R500,000 rand payment made to Andile, with the DA also tweeting the proof of payment the DA leader held up while asking the question.

While Ramaphosa said at the time that the money was payment for work done by Andile’s financial consultancy, for which he’d even seen a contract, he has now said that the money was in fact a donation for his presidential campaign.

Ramaphosa has pleaded ignorance and innocence, saying his earlier incorrect explanation of the payment was a mistake, as he did not know about the donation at the time. His campaign team has also since commited to paying the money back.

Maimane, however, wants a full-scale independent inquiry into “Bosasa corruption”, which he said should be chaired by a retired judge selected by chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.

READ MORE: Ramaphosa’s campaign team undertakes to refund Bosasa donation

“President Ramaphosa has publicly committed himself to fighting corruption. In reply to my question in Parliament about Bosasa payments to his son, he said he would take his son to the police station himself if there was evidence of corruption. Now he must show how serious his commitment to fighting corruption really is,” Maimane’s statement reads.

“There can’t be double standards. President Ramaphosa has appointed independent inquiries to investigate corruption elsewhere. Now the same standard must apply to him and his family,” it continues.

Maimane said Bosasa’s “enormous and likely corrupt influence on the government and the ANC” must be probed, and whether the president lied to parliament in answer to the DA leader’s question must be ascertained.

This is what Maimane wants the inquiry to investigate.

• The full extent of Bosasa’s corrupt influence on the government
• All payments made by Bosasa to politicians, or their families, trusts or companies
• The full involvement of the President and his family to this scandal
• Any other related issues and payments

Maimane has also submitted applications to both the president and African Global Operations to gain access to the contract that Ramaphosa said his son has with African Global Operations under the promotion of access to information act (PAIA).

Bosasa has been embroiled in scandals after Vincent Smith, an ANC MP, allegedly received at least R670,000 from the company over the past three years. The company has also been accused of providing ministers and other government workers with free high-tech security systems, and of paying R1.1 million of former SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s legal bills.

READ MORE: Is Bosasa Ramaphosa’s version of the VBS Bank scandal?

Maimane has long insisted that Ramaphosa’s hands cannot be considered clean when it comes to state capture as he was part of government, as deputy president, while it was happening.

“The DA has made it clear that the ANC is irredeemably corrupt. There is no “good” ANC left. State Capture was not a Gupta/Zuma phenomenon. It is a model of corruption practiced across the state and throughout the ANC,” his statement concludes.

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