By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa will be given 10 days to explain in writing to parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) the meaning of remarks he made about the use of state funds for party political campaigning at a meeting of the ANC’s national executive committee late in 2021.
An audio clip of about two minutes of Ramaphosa’s remarks was widely distributed to the public. It suggested that state funds including those of the State Security Agency (SSA) were used in the run-up to the ANC’s elective conference.
The Scopa members met to discuss a letter, submitted two weeks ago by suspended ANC MP Mervyn Dirks, to Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa, which calls for Ramaphosa to be investigated on allegations related to the misuse of public funds attributed to him in the leaked audio recording.
Dirks had, in his letter, proposed that Ramaphosa be summoned before the committee and explain the utterances he seemingly makes on the recording.
But, after a more than two-and-a-half hour deliberation, the Scopa committee members, the majority of whom are ANC MPs, resolved that summoning the president ought to be the last resort.
“At this point, we do not have cause to suspect any lack of cooperation from the president and, as such, writing to him and soliciting an explanation regarding the utterances attributed to him should suffice.
“We will, however, inform him that we reserve our right to compel him to appear before us. A statement, explanation or affidavit should be appropriate at this stage from the president as a means of explaining the serious remarks he is said to have made in the recording,” said Hlengwa.
The Scopa chairperson said the parliamentary legal team and the Scopa secretary would draft the letter to be sent to the president, to request him to explain his remarks.
After the letter is drafted, Scopa committee members will be furnished with a copy, so they can ensure they are not misrepresented in the correspondence to the president.
A resolution was also taken that Ramaphosa would be given seven to 10 days, after receipt of the letter, to respond.
Hlengwa made it clear that, as per the legal opinion received by Scopa, the committee still had the right to ask Ramaphosa to appear before the committee or be served with summons should he refuse to cooperate.
Livestream Video Below:
Video Courtesy of Parliament.