A few days ago, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's resignation seemed imminent.

Now the tide has turned in his favor in the “Phala-Phala Affair”.

After two days of crisis meetings, the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) has backed the president and party leader.

Claudia Bröll

Political correspondent for Africa based in Cape Town.

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The party's National Executive Committee had "detailed, comprehensively and openly" dealt with the report of an independent commission of inquiry commissioned by Parliament, it said in a statement on Monday evening.

The party will not accept him.

The report has sparked a political tremor in South Africa just two weeks ahead of the ANC party conference.

At the party conference, Ramaphosa will run again for party chairmanship.

Success would pave the way to a second term after the 2024 general election.

The South African President had already announced at the weekend that he would go to court, and his lawyers submitted the application to the Constitutional Court on Monday.

Accordingly, the report should be examined and overturned.

In addition, all parliamentary decisions based on it would have to be declared illegal and ineffective.

The information in it was based on "hearsay", it was not evidence.

In the report, the commission identified "at first glance" possible violations of the constitution and oath of office by Ramaphosa, which could be sufficient for impeachment proceedings.

In the meantime, prominent legal experts have also expressed criticism, including the respected former ombudswoman Thuli Madonsela.

Speculations about tax evasion and money laundering

Meanwhile, late Monday evening, Parliament postponed a vote on the report scheduled for the next day by a week.

The reason given was that this was intended to give all MPs the opportunity to travel to Cape Town, to the seat of Parliament.

Still, this could be difficult.

In South Africa it is the tourist high season, many domestic flights are fully booked.

If Parliament adopts the report, this would automatically lead to the preparation of impeachment proceedings.

According to the decision of the ANC party leadership, however, this is considered unlikely.

With 230 of the 400 seats, the ANC has an absolute majority in parliament.

The ANC alone would decide on Ramaphosa's political future at the party conference a few days later.

The affair revolves around the theft of thick wads of dollar bills hidden in a sofa at Ramaphosa's phala phala game farm.

The theft, which happened back in 2020, raised many questions and fueled speculation about tax evasion, money laundering and foreign exchange control violations.

The crime was publicized by an ally of former President Jacob Zuma in June.

Supporters of Ramaphosa therefore suspect a power-political maneuver.

As Ramaphosa recently announced after a long silence, the money came from the sale of buffalo to a Sudanese citizen.

The British television channel Sky News has now revealed that it was a businessman and owner of a football club.

In an interview, he confirmed the purchase and paid $580,000 in cash.

He did not know that the buffalo and the farm belonged to the president.

However, the animals would never have left the farm because of the corona pandemic.

He's waiting for a refund.

He properly declared the cash in his luggage upon entry.