President Cyril Ramaphosa would have committed “suicide” had he resigned after the Constitutional Court reopened the path to impeachment proceedings over the Phala Phala scandal because there is no proven audit trail linking him to the foreign currency stolen from his game farm, ANC veteran Mathews Phosa said on Namibian radio.
Speaking to Radio Desert FM on Tuesday, the former ANC treasurer-general dismissed calls for Ramaphosa to step down and argued that the evidence does not support claims that the president should be removed from office.
“There is no need for him to resign,” Phosa said.
“He is my former classmate. The facts are in his favour. So why commit suicide? Why should you commit suicide? There’s no need for that.”
‘No audit trail’
Phosa contended that no financial trail has been established between Ramaphosa and the dollars stolen during the 2020 robbery at the president’s Phala Phala game farm.
“There is no audit trail that links our president with those dollars,” he said.
“There is no attempt to cover up.”
The foreign currency has remained one of the most disputed aspects of the scandal since former State Security Agency director-general Arthur Fraser laid criminal charges against Ramaphosa in 2022.
Questions have persisted about the source of the money, how it was stored, whether it was properly declared and the manner in which authorities responded after the theft.
Phosa said critics had failed to produce evidence directly linking Ramaphosa to the cash itself.
He argued that, absent such evidence, calls for Ramaphosa’s resignation were unjustified.
‘ConCourt made no ruling against president’
Phosa also sought to minimise the political implications of the Constitutional Court ruling.
According to him, the court did not order Ramaphosa’s removal from office, did not make final factual findings against him, did not determine criminal liability and did not find that he had breached the Constitution.
Instead, he said, the judgment restored constitutional processes available to Parliament and the president.
The Constitutional Court found that the National Assembly acted unlawfully when it rejected the findings of an independent panel established under Section 89 of the Constitution to assess whether there was prima facie evidence warranting an impeachment inquiry.
The ruling reopened the path to a parliamentary process that could ultimately determine whether there are grounds for impeachment proceedings against Ramaphosa.
‘Scandal dented president’s image’
Despite his defence of the president, Phosa conceded that the scandal had damaged Ramaphosa politically.
“In the court of public opinion, our president is damaged,” Phosa said.
“But in the court of law, we still have to hear what the judges are going to say.”
The interview later widened into a warning about the future of governing liberation movements in Southern Africa.
Phosa said both the ANC and Namibia’s ruling SWAPO party needed to improve governance standards and confront corruption if they hoped to retain public confidence.
“We need to lift the level of governance very high and restore public confidence in the political parties,” he said.
“If we continue to box with corruption and cuddle with corruption, the people are going to lose faith in the parties that are ruling and vote for other parties.”
His comments come at a difficult moment for both organisations.
The ANC lost its parliamentary majority in the 2024 election and now governs through the Government of National Unity, while SWAPO has also faced mounting electoral pressure in Namibia.
Phosa warned that corruption scandals and governance failures were already exacting a political cost.
“There is no way this saga of corruption and allegations will not impact negatively on the ANC,” he said.
“The red lights are there for the African National Congress. We have to wake up.”
- ANC veteran Mathews Phosa defended President Cyril Ramaphosa, stating there is no proven audit trail linking him to the stolen foreign currency in the Phala Phala scandal, and urged him not to resign.
- Phosa emphasized that the Constitutional Court did not rule against Ramaphosa, but only restored parliamentary processes allowing impeachment inquiries to proceed.
- The scandal remains highly controversial, with ongoing questions about the source, declaration, and handling of the stolen dollars, but no direct evidence implicates Ramaphosa personally.
- Phosa acknowledged that the scandal has damaged Ramaphosa’s public image, though legal conclusions are still pending.
- Highlighting broader governance issues, Phosa warned the ANC and Namibia's SWAPO party must combat corruption to maintain public trust, noting political costs from recent corruption allegations.
President Cyril Ramaphosa would have committed "suicide" had he resigned after the Constitutional Court reopened the path to impeachment proceedings over the Phala Phala scandal because there is no proven audit trail linking him to the foreign currency stolen from his game farm, ANC veteran
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"He is my former classmate.
Phosa contended that no financial trail has been established between Ramaphosa and the dollars stolen during the 2020 robbery at the president's Phala Phala game farm.
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"
Questions have persisted about the source of the money, how it was stored, whether it was properly declared and the manner in which authorities responded after the theft.
Phosa said critics had failed to produce evidence directly linking Ramaphosa to the cash itself.
He argued that, absent such evidence, calls for Ramaphosa's resignation were unjustified.
Phosa also sought to minimise the political implications of the Constitutional Court ruling.
Instead, he said, the judgment restored constitutional processes available to Parliament and the president.
Despite his defence of the president, Phosa conceded that the scandal had damaged Ramaphosa politically.
"In the court of public opinion, our president is damaged," Phosa said.
"But in the court of law, we still have to hear what the judges are going to say."
Phosa said both the ANC and Namibia's ruling SWAPO party needed to improve governance standards and confront corruption if they hoped to retain public confidence.
"We need to lift the level of governance very high and restore public confidence in the political parties," he said.
"If we continue to box with corruption and cuddle with corruption, the people are going to lose faith in the parties that are ruling and vote for other parties."
His comments come at a difficult moment for both organisations.
Phosa warned that corruption scandals and governance failures were already exacting a political cost.
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