DA committed to holding the President to account for Bosasa dealings, including possible money laundering
24 June 2019
Today’s headline in the Business Day, “DA denies raising laundering issue”, is misleading and seeks to distort the truth as it pertains to the Public Protector’s investigation into the President Ramaphosa’s relationship with Bosasa (now African Global Operations). At no stage has the DA distanced itself from this investigation or the contents thereof. Rather, we have been explicitly clear in our call for the matter to be finalised, and for Parliament to establish an Ad Hoc Committee to consider the report and its findings – as it did with the Nkandla report.
The facts as to the President’s alleged wrongdoings are straightforward and have not changed. It is my contention that on 6 November 2018, President Ramaphosa misled Parliament about a R500 000 "donation" his campaign received from Bosasa CEO, Gavin Watson, and the clear conflict of interest that exists between him, his son, Andile Ramaphosa and Bosasa. This as his son subsequently secured lucrative contracts with Bosasa to the tune of at least R2 million.
While the focus of my complaint was on the President’s misleading of the House and his conflict of interest with Bosasa, the manner in which the “donation” was allegedly paid – not directly but through attorneys trust accounts – raised the suspicion of financial irregularities and possible money laundering.
In my initial complaint (attached here) to the Public Protector, Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane, on 23 November 2018, it was raised as follows: