South African President Ramaphosa and his allies are fighting the latest Anglo-American operation to control this member of the BRICS countries, by driving out President Ramaphosa on “corruption charges.”
Ramaphosa is alleged to have had millions of dollars in foreign currency stashed at his cattle farm at Phala Phala, which allegedly only became known to the whistle-blower from the fallout when some of it was stolen. The story goes on to raise questions as to where the money came from, and whether laws concerning large foreign cash transactions and tax laws were violated.
Parliament commissioned an ostensibly independent team of three to examine the (paltry) evidence. The commission, which submitted its report last week, concluded that Ramaphosa “has a case to answer” (not that he is guilty or not guilty).
The top leadership of the ruling ANC, with few exceptions, is rallying around the President, and the attempt at a “rush to judgment” has been stalled. Parliament was to consider a motion for impeachment today, Dec. 6, but it has now been postponed for a week. Such a motion must obtain a two-thirds majority. There are multiple prongs of this regime-change effort, including a Reserve Bank inquiry and one or more court cases, so that the failure of the impeachment motion will not be the end of the operation.
The ruling party’s elective conference meets in 10 days to elect a party president and other officers. The nominations from party branches are strongly in Ramaphosa’s favor.
But what’s wrong with this narrative of venality and corruption? The whistle-blower is Arthur Fraser, President Zuma’s last director general (2016-2018) of the State Security Agency (SSA), the country’s central agency for domestic and foreign intelligence. The break-in at Phala Phala allegedly took place on Feb. 9, 2020, yet Fraser waited until June 2022 — after Ramaphosa had made clear South Africa would not go along with Anglo-American demands that his nation side with them in their proxy war against Russia — to lodge a criminal complaint against him. As a former SSA director general, Fraser had good access to multiple foreign intelligence representatives.
London gave the orders to go in for the kill on the last day of President Ramaphosa’s state visit to Britain. On Nov. 24, The Economist, mouthpiece of the City of London, launched a broadside against Ramaphosa’s “despicable” view of the war in Ukraine, using an invited guest column by South African former opposition leader Tony Leon and professional liar and mega-speculator Bill Browder. The two charge that President Ramaphosa is controlled by lucrative deals with Russia, rather than “morality,” listing examples of South Africa’s refusal in recent months to side with NATO against Russia, insisting on maintaining a sovereign, independent foreign policy.