‘Cyril told not to resign to spare ministers jail’

MINISTERS with “smallanyana” skeletons are drumming up support for President Cyril Ramaphosa not to resign because they are afraid of having their shenanigans exposed and being jailed once he is gone.

Four independent sources confirmed that Ramaphosa opted to resign on Wednesday night after the Section 89 Independent Panel report went viral “for his integrity and save the country as well as the party from further embarrassment” from the Phala Phala scandal.

But “some ministers, who have portrayed themselves as anti-corruption champions”, lobbied him to stay because they had skeletons in their closets.

A source close to Ramaphosa said the president spent Wednesday night in Cape Town telling his close allies that he was going to announce his resignation the following day.

“Some of the ministers – one minister in particular – told the president that he should not resign and that they would defend him as they had already activated their journalists and political commentators to spin the Independent Panel’s findings.

“But the president told them that he was resigning for his integrity and to save the country as well as the ANC from further embarrassment. The president was genuine that he was resigning and not testing the waters,” the source said.

A second source said it has now emerged “some ministers who portray themselves as angels are rotten to the core”.

“Some ministers, who portray themselves to the public as champions of anti-corruption, told the president that they are likely to go to jail if he resigns because they have done a lot of bad things and they need him to stay so they don’t go to jail.”

A third source added that one minister in particular, “was sort of blackmailing the president”.

“This minister was telling the president that ‘if you resign and we get arrested, we are going down with you’. It appears that the president was recently given damning files about corruption involving certain ministers and he has already confronted them with the allegations and they were preparing fightback strategies behind the scenes.”

A fourth source added that Ramaphosa indicated that he didn’t want the Phala Phala scandal to end his political career but wanted to resign and fight the case from the outside.

“Ramaphosa told them that if he doesn’t resign, he is going to be booed and embarrassed in Parliament and that there are national elections in 2024 and he doesn’t want to be accused of being the one who made the ANC lose the elections because, by him staying, a lot of people might not vote for him or the party.”

However, some of his Cabinet ministers had, “out of self-preservation”, fiercely lobbied him to stay put, said an ANC insider. If he was to resign, his Cabinet members should also follow suit, the person said.

Potential buyers of parts of state arms company Denel in the Middle East were also anxious about Ramaphosa’s exit before some of the key deals were signed. Denel officials and the prospective buyers met this week in Abu Dhabi, UAE, according to an insider with intimate knowledge.

Nothing stops Parliament from sitting on Tuesday to debate and vote on the findings of the panel report. Ramaphosa’s plans to take the report on judicial review are “stillborn”, Independent Media heard.

If the ANC used its majority in Parliament to protect Ramaphosa from scrutiny, he would face a motion of no confidence based on the same grounds. Opposition leaders warned that “Ramaphosa would be a hypocrite because all along he said that he would fully submit himself before any investigation on the matter”.

The ATM, which initiated the parliamentary investigation into whether Ramaphosa should face an impeachment inquiry, yesterday said “the planned sitting would go ahead whether or not Ramaphosa has resigned”.