The African National Congress (ANC) has some out in support of President Cyril Ramaphosa in the ongoing controversy over the so-called “Ramaphosa leaks.”
In a statement issued on Tuesday afternoon, the ANC said the email leaks seek to undermine public confidence in Ramaphosa.
The party said it’s not aware of “any illegality on the part of a campaign conducted by any leader of the ANC.”
The leaked emails are therefore nothing but a calculated manoeuvre to defocus and detract from the immediate task of socio-economic issues and dealing with the challenges of the economy.
This is also an attempt to undermine public confidence in President Ramaphosa whose leadership has been defined by moral and ethical conduct.
ANC
The emails, published on News24 on Friday last week, apparently show that Ramaphosa knew at least some of the donors to his CR17 campaign that won him the ANC presidency in 2017.
This is contrary to his repeated defence to the Public Protector that he was kept in the dark about the details of fundraising.
The ANC further said its recent National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting mandated its Top 6 officials to consider how internal campaign funding would be “better managed” in future.
It added that to date, the party has not had a policy to regulate internal campaigns and related fundraising.
The ANC asserted that its branches have “the primary authority to decide leadership” in the party.
This apparently disputes claims in some quarters that “white monopoly capital” may have “bought” the ANC’s 54th Conference.
The party welcomed Ramaphosa’s “detailed account to the Public Protector” on matters related to CR17 campaign.
In an attempt to rebut claims that Ramaphosa may have been captured, the ANC said he has “always placed reliance on the counsel he gets from his party.”