President Cyril Ramaphosa has denied having direct knowledge of the misuse of public funds or information that certain Ministers or officials directed the use of public funds during the campaign for positions in the ANC.
Ramaphosa, who wrote back to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts after the committee sent a list of eight questions to him, said some of the information was already in the public domain.
He confirmed he made the statement at a meeting of the ANC NEC in March last year. The meeting was held over three days.
However, he made the statement on March 27.
Some of the information he was referring to was contained in the High-Level Panel Report that was released in 2018.
The other information came from the Zondo Commission, where current and former senior officials gave evidence.
He said there was also the evidence of former spy bosses Moe Shaik and Gibson Njenje to the commission on the misuse of State Security Agency funds.
“The testimony of Ambassador Riaz “Moe” Shaik and Mr Lizo Gibson Njenje before the commission of inquiry into the allegations of state capture, corruption and fraud in the public sector including organs of state on 26 November 2019. They testified about what they referred to as “misuse” of State Security Agency resources for unlawful purposes,” said Ramaphosa.
There was also the evidence of another former spy boss Jeff Maqetuka on this matter.
There was also a court case between the SAPS and Independent Police Investigative Directorate over the purchase of a grabber to be used at the Nasrec conference in 2017.
Scopa had, almost three weeks ago, sent questions to Ramaphosa and the president replied to the committee last Thursday.
The committee was due to meet on Wednesday to discuss the contents of the letter.
Earlier, Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said he had referred Ramaphosa’s response to the lawyers for Parliament for advice.
This was related to certain aspects of his letter.
However, he did not divulge the specific areas that the lawyers would look at.
But in his response, Ramaphosa said the issues he raised in the NEC were already in the public domain.
He denied having any direct knowledge of the misuse of public funds during the campaign for elections in the ANC.
“I do not have such information. Some of the evidence proffered at the commission of inquiry contained such allegations. I refer the committee to the publicly avail transcripts of these records,” said Ramaphosa.
He also denied having knowledge about Ministers or senior officials in government who directed the use of funds for elections in the ruling party.
“I have no information in this regard. I refer the committee to make publicly available records related to the information outlined in paragraph 8.3 above. I have no further information on this,” said Ramaphosa in reference to the question about the use of a grabber at the ANC conference in Nasrec in 2017.
Ramaphosa also denied having knowledge about the misuse of public funds by the ANC or its members.
“I do not have any information in my possession that could assist the committee in this respect. However, based on the evidence led before the commission of inquiry, there should be information in the report of the commission of inquiry that can shed further light on this matter. The first part of the report was made public on 4 January 2022. Part 2 was made public on 1 February. Part 3 will be submitted to me on 28 February and made public as soon as possible once submitted,” said Ramaphosa.
He said since he took over he has taken steps to fight corruption.
He will announce the action plan to deal with the Zondo reports in June.
POLITICAL BUREAU