South Africa’s anti-corruption watchdog has cleared President Cyril Ramaphosa of any wrongdoing in a preliminary report into a cover-up scandal that has tarnished his reputation.The Public Protector said it has notified implicated parties of the preliminary findings of its probe over the theft of large amounts of cash from Ramaphosa’s luxury Phala Phala farm something the president is accused of having attempted to conceal.Ramaphosa’s spokesman Vincent Magwenya said recently that the president received the report, details of which have been leaked to local media.The scandal, which erupted in June 2022, involved about five hundred thousand dollars in cash that Ramaphosa acknowledged were stolen from beneath sofa cushions at his ranch.The president, who said the money was payment for buffalos bought by a Sudanese businessman, was accused of failing to report the matter to the police, as well as abusing his powers and exposing himself to a conflict of interest over the affair.The report exonerates him but found the head of the presidential protection unit to whom Ramaphosa reported the crime acted improperly, investigating the case directly instead of reporting it to the police, according to extracts published by several media outlets.The findings, which the left-wing opposition Economic Freedom Fighters party described as nonsensical, will bring some respite to Ramaphosa, who has been dogged by the allegations for months.
