South Africa’s President Ramaphosa vowed to root out corruption at an Iftar dinner on Thursday in Cape Town with business leaders and the clergy.
Ramaphosa’s comments come amid a political turning point this week after the ruling ANC party suspended its secretary-general, Elias Magashule, over graft charges.
But a defiant Magashule, who is the first top party official to be temporarily forced out under a new policy, said he was not going anywhere.Instead, he said he was suspending Ramaphosa from his position as ANC president.
On March 30, Magashule was given a 30-day ultimatum to step aside after being charged with embezzling public funds while he was premier of the Free State province.
However, he ignored the deadline and refused to resign voluntarily, forcing the party to suspend him.
Charges against Magashule relate to public funds set aside to vet government-built housing with asbestos roofs in 2014 when he headed the provincial government, dubbed a “gangster state” in a book by investigative journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh.
The hazardous roofs were never removed, and investigators believe that the equivalent of over $12-million was pocketed. Magashule who was briefly arrested in November and granted bail on graft charges is next expected to appear before a high court in August.
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