Amid the scandal within the aftermath of mining firm Glencore pleading responsible within the US to bribery and market manipulation, analysts on Monday stated President Cyril Ramaphosa’s shut enterprise ties with the commodities and oil producer might see him hauled earlier than parliament to reply questions from opposition MPs.
This might additional tarnish his repute as an anti-state seize champion and corruption buster. Fraudulent techniques employed by Glencore in conducting its enterprise have led to the corporate agreeing to pay a positive of greater than R15 billion.
In lambasting Ramaphosa and Glencore, the EFF described the corporate as “a criminal syndicate, without any legitimate business where it operates – notably between 2007 and 2018, employing corrupt tactics throughout the world”.
“There is no reason to believe that any of Glencore’s business dealings in South Africa were above board,” stated Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) spokesperson Sinawo Thambo.
“Glencore’s relationship with Cyril Ramaphosa, which began in 2012 after they offered him shares, was nothing however a corrupt transaction.
“Glencore paid Ramaphosa through intermediaries to gain political influence and manipulate contracts with key state-owned entities, particularly Eskom.”
Independent political analyst Dr Ralph Mathekga and model communications skilled Dr Sarah Britten agreed that the Glencore revelations have been sure to additional hurt Ramaphosa’s public repute.
“This is certainly not good news for Ramaphosa – even if he might say he was at arm’s length regarding Glencore dealings,” Mathekga stated.
“What has transpired strengthens the long-existing suspicion about his involvement in particular pursuits.
“The EFF will be pushing him for responses in parliament and it is not going to be comfortable – throwing water on Ramaphosa’s anti-corruption programme.”
Britten stated the Glencore saga would supply a helpful increase to the unconventional financial transformation group’s white monopoly capital narrative “and I expect to see the usual social media accounts take advantage of it, adding fuel to the fire”.
Describing Ramaphosa’s repute as being “frayed”, Britten stated the general public perceived Ramaphosa as “weak, indecisive, incapable of delivering change – standing by while the country was being looted”.
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“This is inside the total context of an ANC that’s profoundly corrupt, an organisation that’s rotten to the core, which should lose energy in 2024 – a hope expressed a number of occasions by South Africans of all races.
“The last time Ramaphosa had admirers was at the beginning of the lockdown in 2020. “Since then, he has squandered any social capital he might have had. “It’s hard to knock someone’s reputation when his reputation is already flush with the floorboards.”
Reacting to the Glencore scandal, Eskom former chief government Matshela Koko, advised The Citizen of his intention to submit paperwork to the US attorney-general about flaws within the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture he maintained didn’t correctly examine Ramaphosa’s position in pushing the corporate’s agenda.
“What has transpired in the US is an indictment of the Zondo commission, which had evidence before it that between March 2012 and February 2014, Mr Ramaphosa was chairman of Optimum under Glencore,” Koko stated.
“They had taken over Optimum with out doing due diligence. My submission to the fee was that they did so as a result of they’d an ace up their sleeves – and that ace was none apart from Mr Ramaphosa.
“It is no coincidence that when [Glencore] took over Optimum in March 2012, they supplied substandard coal to Eskom.”