By Lehlohonolo Lehana..
@ MasiLosi
The Constitutional Court has found that President Cyril Ramaphosa neither wilfully mislead Parliament about a R500 000 donation from Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson, nor did he personally benefit from donations made to his CR17 campaign for the ANC presidency.
In 2018, then DA leader Mmusi Maimane asked Ramaphosa if Watson had paid his son Andile Ramaphosa R500 000 for consultancy services. Ramaphosa confirmed the payment but corrected his statement days later and said the money was a donation to his CR17 campaign.
After an investigation, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane found that Ramaphosa misled Parliament when he answered questions about a R500 000 donation from Watson and that he had a duty to disclose donations his campaign received.
However, in a judgment on Thursday morning, the Constitutional Court found that the evidence before the Public Protector did not establish wilfulness. Instead, Mkhwebane changed the executive ethics code to align with her findings.
“Therefore, the Public Protector was wrong on the facts and the law with regards to the issue whether the president had wilfully misled parliament and the High Court was right to set aside her finding,” Justice Chris Jafta read.
The public protector also did not have powers to investigate private affairs of political parties.
These findings were made by the majority of the Constitutional Court on Thursday as it dismissed the appeal by public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane against a decision made by the Pretoria high court in March last year.
The majority judgment also held that Ramaphosa was not obliged to disclose the donations received by the CR17 campaign as he did not personally benefit from them.
The high court judgment reviewed and set aside Mkhwebane’s decision to investigate and report on the CR17 campaign for the ANC leadership elected in December 2017.
That judgment reviewed and set aside Mkhwebane’s decision to investigate and report on the CR17 campaign for the ANC leadership elected in December 2017.
The full bench also reviewed and set aside her findings released in July 2019 that Ramaphosa deliberately misled parliament about the donation he received from Bosasa.
The public protector was also ordered to pay punitive costs in the application.
The judge also said the court ruled that Mkhwebane did not have the authority to make remedial actions against National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise, the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) advocate Shamila Batohi and the national commissioner of police.