Former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor opens up abut state capture and the Guptas during an interview on October 21, 2016 in Cape Town. Picture: Gallo Images
Former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor has responded with disbelief to a disputed weekend report that a deal was tabled by a faction backing Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to have President Jacob Zuma step down from office before his term ends – and receive R2 billion in the process.
According to the Daily Maverick, the deal reportedly included Zuma walk away scot-free from having to face 783 corruption charges, and to have him escape any jail time linked to his dealings.
This alleged amnesty deal was, however, apparently dropped in the lead-up to the ANC’s national policy conference, according to the website.
Zuma had reportedly not agreed to a meeting about it.
Two sources confirmed that the amnesty deal was the brainchild of a faction that wants Ramaphosa to take over from Zuma in leading the ANC. Zuma is understood to have made a fuss about dismissing the deal.
The deal was based on a similar settlement reached in Ireland in the 1990s that put an end to political unrest and instability in that country.
ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa, however, slammed the report as “nothing else but fake news”.
Mentor made headlines last week after her self-published book hit the market and she accused Zuma of having attempted to harass her sexually.
She took to Facebook on Monday afternoon to write an “open letter” to both Ramaphosa and ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe about the R2 billion matter.
In her letter she asked them if they remembered what Zuma had done.
Among the alleged misdeeds of the president she listed (repeated here in her own words):
* He caused ZAR 350bn+ to take flight out of SA in the last 18 months alone.
* He assisted his friends to fleece billions of Rands out of SOEs only to whisk these billions out of SA.
* He caused 5℅ ADDITIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT in the past year alone.
* He brought down our economy to miserable ruins.
* He appointed incompetent cronies to strategic places just for them to help him loot.
* He loaded his Cabinet with apartheid SPIES and his immediate and distant relatives and FRIENDS.
* Under him political assassinations skyrocketed.
* He ran down NPA, Hawks, etc.
* He continually disrespected and breached the Constitution.
* He spread racial hatred and discussions.
* He defiled Parliament and converted it into a load of his supporters.
* He built himself a castle with a bunker at Nkandla.
* He is working hard to remove SA from the ICC.
* He littered his administration with lies all the way.
* He secured his comfort and safety together with his family in Dubai, after putting our country to ruins, and after causing divisions among differ racial groups.
* He stole without flinching throughout his 3 terms.
* His reign is of terror and threats.
* He changed the Mining Charter to benefit his “black” connected friends.
* Corruption is the hallmark of his rule.
* He undermines the Rule of Law and the Judiciary.
“The list above is incomplete,” she added.
She asked Ramaphosa if he was “really that desperate to become president that you would buy your way by buying Zuma out despite what he did to our country and to all of us?”
According to a Forbes estimate last year, Ramaphosa’s wealth – largely thanks to his Shanduka Group – stands at between R6 billion and R7 billion, so if he wanted to “buy Zuma out”, it’s possible that he could afford to do so.
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