His alleged involvement in the theft of four million euros from a farm he owns is questioning the president of South Africa, a politician in good standing now accused of money laundering
Cyril Ramaphosa plays it. The strange theft of $4 million from a farm he owned has breached confidence in the South African president and cast doubt on his re-election in 2024. The case inspires a usual political “thriller,” one of those involving a complex plot and hard-to-identify culprits that seem to hint at the cloudy conspiracy theory. The former head of national security has denounced the crime, assuring that the thieves were kidnapped and bribed by the hacienda’s employees so that they wouldn’t confess to their action, while the political opposition suggests money laundering. The last sincere politician on the local public scene is under suspicion.
Already known as the ‘farmgate’, the case could undermine the already deteriorating image of the African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party since the country began its democratic phase. Since then, Nelson Mandela, the father of the country, has been the only leader to have kept his ethical status impeccable. Behind him, during the struggle against the apartheid system, was Ramaphosa. He was the gray brain, a man who always held important positions until he became president four years ago, replacing Jacob Zuma, the leader who was involved in all kinds of bad practices.
The current president (Soweto, 1952) is central to the construction of the new republic. His political significance began in student organizations, militancy that led him to solitary confinement for eleven months and another about six months in prison. His release enabled him to complete his law degree and embark on a glittering career, supported by his status as a legal adviser to labor organizations. He took part in the formation of the influential Congress of the South African Trade Union (COSATU), a real lever for his projection, and was secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers.
Team Leader
The resistance was called Madiba in the country and Mandela outside its borders, but in reality Ramaphosa’s role was pivotal in technical change. While the former was in prison on Robben Island, the latter served as head of the team that negotiated the end of the segregation regime and the terms of the transition. After the hero’s liberation, he did not lose fame since he was elected president of the Constituent Assembly.
The irresistible rise of the impeccable manager came to a halt in 1997, when Thabo Mbeki defeated him in his race for the head of the Executive. So he stepped back and focused his efforts on becoming a millionaire, a goal in which he was just as successful as he was in his previous political career. The shadow of corruption and excessive ambition hangs over the black elite who have come to power in South Africa. The sudden rise of the ‘black diamonds’, a new oligarchy made up of politicians and businessmen who got rich overnight, has sparked public dismay and seriously eroded the ANC.
Cyril Ramaphosa could not just acquire a respectable capital. No, he has never been a man of mediocrity. He founded the Shanduka Group, a trust with investments in energy, telecommunications, banking, real estate and insurance. He was president of the MTN company, one of the largest in the continent in mobile telephony, and in 2014 he acquired 30 properties in Johannesburg alone and a fortune of $450 million that made him one of the richest in the world. . continent.
Business was not incompatible with political struggle. Ramaphosa remained at the top of the party and was elected vice presidential candidate in 2012, a position he took up two years later, after Zuma’s election victory. His credit continued to grow. He was the voice of battle experience and the spirit of reconciliation, the best heir to Mandela’s legacy. In 2018, he replaced the president, who was forced to resign due to widespread rejection.
His coming to power was interpreted as a gesture of redemption from the ANC. Ramaphosa represented moral rearmament and the voice of reason and was welcomed across the political spectrum. He had built a reputation as a decisive, open-minded and sincere politician committed to the fight against corruption at the international level. In 2000, he took part in the mission overseeing the disarmament of the Provisional IRA. Oddly enough, the former trade unionist wasn’t overly taken aback by the fact that the massacre at the Marikana mine, in which dozens of workers were shot from behind, belonged to the Lonmin company, of which he was a director and shareholder.
Support began to crack as controversies arose over its ability to alternate corporate and institutional seats. The risk of falling into influence ruts seemed obvious. The Glencore scandal hit him hard. This company, of which he was a director, was accused of illegally obtaining a contract to supply coal to Eskom, the local energy giant.
Ramaphosa’s political action has also been criticized. His program of agricultural reform, based on expropriation without compensation, has transformed coexistence between different communities. The economic reactivation plans have also collided with the reality of the social abyss. The violent riots of the past year show the discontent of the black majority. Now his future depends on $4 million that shouldn’t be there, in one of the many possessions of an apparently honest and extraordinarily wealthy president.
Source: La Verdad
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