Farmagate: The scandal that overshadowed South African president Ramaphosa's reelection as chief of ruling ANC

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party on Monday re-elected President Cyril Ramaphosa as its leader for a second five-year term, despite a brewing scandal over a huge cash theft at his farm.

Ramaphosa garnered 2,476 votes for the post of party president against 1,897 for former health minister Zweli Mkhize, the African National Congress’ elections chief, Kgalema Motlanthe, announced.

Ramaphosa’s comfortable victory opens the way for him to a second term as South African president if the ANC wins the next general elections, due in 2024.

Under the constitution, the head of state is chosen by parliament.

Farmgate overshadows Ramaphosa’s victory

However, the 70-year-old’s victory was overshadowed by the so-called farmgate scandal.

Ramaphosa is mired in accusations that he concealed the burglary of a huge amount of cash at his upmarket cattle farm.

It all started when the country former top spy Aurthur Fraser accused Ramaphosa of money laundering in June. He added that Ramaphosa also covered up a theft of large amounts of cash from his farm in February.

Fraser said that $4 million in foreign cash was found hidden in furniture.

The police launched a probe into the incident, following Fraser’s accusations.

For his part, Ramaphosa acknowledged that cash had been stolen from his farm during a burglary but denied any wrongdoing.

If found guilty, the South African president may be impeached.

As the nation’s vice president, Ramaphosa ascended to the ANC’s top job in December 2017 as his boss Jacob Zuma battled a mounting corruption scandal.

The following February, Zuma was forced out by the ANC.

Ramaphosa took office vowing to weed out endemic corruption and renew the party.

But his clean-hands image has been dented by the burglary scandal.

The affair has raised questions as to why he was in the possession of so much cash, and why he failed to report the theft to the authorities.

He won a reprieve ahead of the conference when the ANC used its majority in parliament to block a possible impeachment inquiry.

The ANC has a storied history, renowned throughout the world for its decades-long struggle, led by Nelson Mandela, against apartheid.

The 110-year-old party has governed the country continuously since the advent of democracy in 1994. But it has been battered by graft, cronyism, internal rifts and a moribund economy.

An organisational report presented at the conference showed that party membership had dropped by a third over the past five years.

With inputs from agencies

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