South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has been embroiled in a corruption scandal for months, avoided initiating impeachment proceedings on Tuesday as parliament as a whole opposed them at the end of a heated debate.
At the same time, 214 deputies opposed the launch of the impeachment procedure, and 148 supported it, while two deputies abstained from voting.
Cyril Ramaphosa (70) made a fortune in his commercial activities before coming to power, and he is accused of hiding from the police and the tax office a theft that affected his farm in the north-east of the country.
In February 2020, thieves stole $580,000 worth of cash from a ranch that was hidden under sofa cushions.
The chief said that the money came from the sale of twenty buffaloes. A political opponent of Ramaphosa said in a complaint filed in June that it was dirty money.
The President of South Africa has received the full support of the ruling party, which has a comfortable majority in parliament.
“We are not voting to declare the president innocent or guilty,” said the leader of the main opposition party, John Stenhuizen, but for parliament to see the matter through.
Police are investigating, but the president has yet to be charged.
Cyril Ramaphosa, 70, is the only candidate for the presidency of the African National Congress, former Health Minister Zweli Mkhize. The party is meeting this week to elect the country’s president if the party wins the general election in 2024.
Analyst Daniel Silk believes that in 2024 the African National Congress may lose power, making unknown the future of South Africa, which has been ruled by this party since the establishment of democracy in the country.
