Senior ANC members have been lobbying President Cyril Ramaphosa’s adviser, Bejani Chauke, to resign as a member of parliament so he can help rebuild the organisation from Luthuli House and raise funds for the financially troubled political party.
Chauke ran Ramaphosa’s CR17 campaign, which opened doors for him to become president of South Africa after he was elected to lead the party in 2017.
Thereafter, Chauke was appointed as the president’s adviser after Ramaphosa took office and managed to make a name for himself in diplomatic circles.
“We need Bejani at Luthuli House, we can’t have all the comrades in parliament while our headquarters is in tatters,” said one senior member yesterday, who refused to be named because he is not allowed to speak to the media.
Chauke was tipped to become the new minister of state security because he is one of Ramaphosa’s most trusted lieutenants.
However, rumours started circulating on Friday that he had resigned as a member of parliament. But parliament said it had not received his resignation letter.
“He is still young, he may go to parliament in the next elections. We must admit the ANC is in serious financial trouble, and Bejani is the best man to help us fundraise outside the country,” the official added.
Chauke stood for the treasure general of the party’s elective conference in December 2022 but lost the position to Gwen Ramokgopa, who was nominated from the floor.
“Gwen is struggling to raise funds for the ANC and she needs someone like Bejani to show her how it is done. I voted for Bejani to be a TG (treasurer general), and I told some comrades that they made a big mistake by voting for Gwen.
“We didn’t have enough money for the elections, and we had to ask the president to organise funds because the TG didn’t bring enough to the table,” said another senior ANC official, who asked not to be named.
Chauke was implicated in the Phala Phala farm theft scandal, where undisclosed amounts of American dollars were stolen from Ramaphosa’s farm in Bela Bela, Limpopo, in February 2020.
Former state security agency DG, Arthur Fraser, claims in his affidavit to the police that Chauke is one of the people who brought the dollars into the country on behalf of Ramaphosa.
Chauke could not be reached for comment yesterday.
One of his allies told Sunday World yesterday that Chauke has agreed to resign, but he has not yet sent his resignation letter to parliament.
“Bejani has agreed to sacrifice his career as a member of parliament for the party, and I hope they will remember hisnoble sacrifice in the future,” the friend stated.
