A DEFIANT President Cyril Ramaphosa has insisted that the Phala Phala farmgate scandal won’t deter him from doing his job and that he was prepared to be held accountable like everyone else.
Ramaphosa delivered the ANC’s message of support at the SACP national congress at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre in Ekurhuleni. He admitted being aware of calls for him to step down until the matter had been resolved.
”I have heard those voices and there are processes that need to be followed. I am following those processes and let us all give those processes an opportunity and a chance,” he said.
Ramaphosa promised that once the processes under way had played themselves out, the next steps can follow.
”I have pledged my full co-operation to the investigation process that is under way. I am prepared to be held accountable.
“I opted, of my own volition, to appear before the (ANC) integrity commission. We were meant to meet a week ago, but the date did not suit everyone. We will finalise another date in the days that come and I will go before the integrity commission,” he said.
Ramaphosa said he was aware of former State Security Agency director-general Arthur Fraser’s complaint at the Rosebank police station , Johannesburg on June 1.
”The complaint related to a theft that was committed at my farm in February (2020). The allegations contained in the complaint are serious and it is only correct that they be thoroughly investigated and that the due legal process be allowed to take its course without interference,” he explained.
Ramaphosa stated: “As we emerge from the era of state capture, we must be firm on the principle that no person – not a single person – is above the law and that everyone, regardless of the position that they occupy, must be held accountable for their actions.”
To loud applause from delegates, the president maintained that he wouldn’t allow these allegations to deter him from what needed to be done, which, he said, was to rebuild the economy.
”I will not allow this to deter me, to discourage me from the work that I have to do and I will not be intimidated nor distracted nor bullied into submission,” added Ramaphosa.
He said for as long as he was still privileged to be the president of the republic, he would do his work and continue to do so alongside other South Africans to create jobs, to tackle poverty, to build safe communities and to change people’s lives.
Despite unhappiness in many quarters, threats inside and outside the ANC of protests over the scandal, Ramaphosa maintained that he would travel throughout the country.
”I will go anywhere in the country to address members of the ANC,” he said.