S. Africa’s parliament votes against impeaching president Ramaphosa

An extraordinary session of South Africa’s parliament on Tuesday (13 December) voted against starting impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa over a report that says he held undeclared foreign currency at his farm in 2020.
The lawmakers voted 214 to 148 against the move to impeach Ramaphosa. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, which holds a majority in the parliament, largely stood with the incumbent, preventing the motion from getting the two-thirds vote needed to proceed with impeachment. At least four ANC lawmakers, however, broke ranks with the party line and voted along with the opposition parties in favor of the impeachment process and a few more did not show up for the vote. Ramaphosa — championed as a graft-busting savior after corruption-stained predecessor Jacob Zuma — was counting on support from the ruling ANC party, which has been further divided by the scandal.

The president, who was a wealthy businessman before entering politics, found himself in hot water in June when South Africa’s former spy boss filed a complaint against him to the police.

The crucial vote came after a damning parliamentary report alleged that Ramaphosa illegally hid at least $580,000 in cash in a sofa at his Phala Phala game ranch. It said he did not report the theft of the money to the police in order to avoid questions over how he got the foreign currency and why he had not declared it to authorities. The report has brought Ramaphosa’s opponents — opposition parties and even rivals within his ANC party — to call for him to step down.