13/11/2024
THE PRESEDENTIAL CONTROVERSIES JUSTICE FOR SOUTH AFRICANS
1. MARIKANA MASSACRE
The massacre occurred when police broke up an occupation by striking LONMIN workers of a "KOPPIE" (hilltop) near NKANENG shack settlement in Marikana on 16 August 2012. As a result of the police shootings, 34 miners died and an additional 78 miners were injured causing anger and outcry against the police and South African government. Further controversy emerged after it was discovered that most of the victims were shot in the back and many victims were shot far from police lines. The violence on 16 August 2012 was the single most lethal use of force by South African security forces against civilians since the end of the apartheid era.
During the Marikana Commission, it also emerged that LONMIN management solicited The PRESIDENT, a LONMIN shareholder and ANC heavyweight, to coordinate "concomitant action" against "criminal" protesters and therefore is seen by many as being responsible for the massacre.
Under the investigation of FARLAM committee, The PRESIDENT said that LONMIN lobbied government and the SAPS firstly to secure a massive police presence at LONMIN and secondly to characterize what was taking place as a criminal rather than an industrial relations event.
The Marikana Commission of Inquiry ultimately found that given the deaths that had already occurred, his intervention did not cause the increase in police on site, nor did he know the operation would take place on 16 August.
He was employed on the board of directors of LONMIN while taking an active stance when the Marikana Massacre took place on LONMIN Marikana premises. On 15 August 2012 he called for action against the Marikana miners' strike, which he called "dastardly criminal" conduct that needed "concomitant action" to be taken. He later admitted and regretted his involvement in the act and said that it could have been avoided if contingency plans had been made prior to the labour strike.
2. ALLEGED EXTRAMARITAL AFFAIRS
In August 2017, the Sunday Independent published an article alleging that The PRESIDENT had had several extramarital affairs, including with some women to whom he had given money. The PRESIDENT denied the allegations, claiming that they were politically motivated aimed to derail his presidential campaign.
3. CR17 CAMPAIGN FUNDS
On 19 July 2019, the Public Protector, BUSISIWE MKHWEBANE, released a report in which she claimed that The PRESIDENT had intentionally misled the Parliament of South Africa over the controversial BOSASA donations to his CR17 ANC presidential campaign. COPE Leader Mosiuoa Lekota called for The PRESIDENT to be impeached while DA Leader Mmusi Maimane proposed the establishment of an ad hoc committee to effectively investigate these allegations. The PRESIDENT briefed the nation on 21 July 2019 and described the report as "fundamentally flawed" and called for a judicial review of Mkhwebane's findings.
4. CONDUCT OF BUCINESS INTERESTS
The PRESIDENT has been criticized for the conduct of his business interests, although he has never been indicted for illegal activity in any of these controversies. Controversial business dealings include his joint venture with GLENCORE and allegations of benefitting illegally from coal deals with ESKOM which he has staunchly denied, during which GLENCORE was in the public spotlight for its tendentious business activities involving TONY BLAIR in the Middle East; his son ANDILE RAMAPHOSA also been found to have accepted payments totalling R2 million from BOSASA, the security company implicated in corruption and state capture by the Zondo Commission.
5. PHALA PHALA ROBBERY
On 9 February 2020, it is alleged about US$4 million in cash was stolen from The PRESIDENT Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo, although the exact amount was disputed.
The PRESIDENT later said the amount was $580,000. In 2022, he was accused of corruption, obstruction of justice, kidnapping and bribing the burglars into silence. After delivery of a report on the matter commissioned by Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, the parliament voted on 13 December 2022, 148 for and 214 against impeachment of the president.[citation needed. On 11 October 2024, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) announced that it would not be prosecuting The PRESIDENT or any suspects involved in the case.
