Ramaphosa says he will not resign as South Africa opens an impeachment committee over cash scandal

CAPE TOWN: South African president Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Monday that he will not resign from his position despite the establishment of an impeachment committee to reinvestigate allegations that he committed serious misconduct by hiding the theft of more than half a million dollars in cash, which had been stashed in a sofa at his game ranch.

In a televised address to the nation, Ramaphosa said he would legally challenge a parliamentary report that allegedly found credible evidence of wrongdoing on his part, a process that is likely to significantly delay possible impeachment proceedings against him.

He has faced calls from various quarters, especially opposition parties, to step down from his position while these processes unfold.

His announcement came a few hours after the South African Parliament said it would establish the impeachment committee in compliance with a decision of the country's highest court last week that the report should be referred to an impeachment committee.

"I therefore respectfully want to make it clear that I will not resign. To do so would be to preempt a process defined by the Constitution. To do so would be to give credence to a panel report that, unfortunately, has grave flaws," Ramaphosa said on Monday.

His decision follows a ruling by the top Constitutional Court on Friday saying a 2022 Parliament vote that blocked impeachment proceedings against Ramaphosa over the scandal was unconstitutional.

At the time of the vote, Ramaphosa's African National Congress party had a majority in Parliament. The vote was held despite an independent report finding evidence of wrongdoing by the president in allegedly not properly reporting the theft to police and trying to keep the investigation to recover the money secret.

The Constitutional Court said last week that, according to procedure, the 2022 independent report should have been referred to an impeachment committee for further investigation.

Impeaching the leader of Africa's top economy would require the support of at least two-thirds of lawmakers in the 400-member Parliament, according to the Constitution.

The multi-party impeachment committee still needs to conduct an investigation before any move to hold an impeachment vote. No time frame was given for that in Monday's Parliament statement.

Ramaphosa's ANC party lost its Parliament majority in a landmark 2024 election and is now the largest in a coalition government of 10 parties. He still could survive an impeachment vote if his party's lawmakers back him.

The scandal badly damaged the reputation of a president, who took office in 2018 on an anti-corruption ticket after a decade of government graft scandals under former leader Jacob Zuma.

The allegations against Ramaphosa were first made by a former head of South Africa's state security agency, who walked into a police station in 2022 and accused the president of money laundering and other offences over the money. It emerged that the theft happened in 2020 and had been kept secret.

Ramaphosa denied wrongdoing and said the money, in U.S. dollars, came from the legitimate sale of buffalo on his ranch. However, questions arose over the source of the money and why it was hidden in a sofa.

The 2022 independent report said there was "legitimate doubt" over the source of the money, and some evidence that the amount was more than the $580,000 Ramaphosa claimed. It also said Ramaphosa had used the head of his presidential protection unit and others to "surreptitiously" try to track down the suspects.