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President Cyril Ramaphosa has lost the political support of the African National Congress (ANC) and is "very likely" to announce his resignation as head of state in the next few hours.

Ramaphosa will also resign as president of the ANC and will pull out of the race to be re-elected in just over two weeks' time at Nasrec.

In accordance with the Constitution, Deputy President David Mabuza, a former premier of Mpumalanga, will step in as acting president until Parliament votes for a new president.

It is expected that whoever is elected as the next ANC president mid-December will be sworn in as state president at a special sitting of Parliament at the end of the month.

The Democratic Alliance has tabled a motion, arguing for Parliament to be dissolved and for an early election to be held next year.

News24 has spoken to a range of senior politicians and civil servants close to the president's decision, that is likely to trigger a credibility crisis for South Africa.

A source close to talks said Ramaphosa did not have to be convinced of the case to resign. The insider said Ramaphosa argued that it was in the best interest of the stability of the country for him to quit.

"There is nothing we can do now," the source said.

Vincent Magwenya, Ramaphosa's spokesperson, said the president would address the nation "soon". He said the president was still considering his options.

"The primary concern in the president's mind is the stability of the government and the country."

Ramaphosa has run out of options after a Section 89 panel, headed by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, found that he may have violated the Constitution and anti-corruption laws in his Phala Phala game farm dealings.

News24 understands the president's legal advisors told him that, although they took the view that the Ngcobo report was "full of contradictions, flaws and mistakes", chances of successfully challenging it in court was not guaranteed.

"Which court will rule that a report by a former chief justice is irrational?" one source said.

Ramaphosa also does not want to put himself through a "public trial" in Parliament, in an impeachment hearing, while he was the one who suspended Busisiwe Mkhwebane, the Public Protector, to face a similar process.

Ramaphosa is a multi-billionaire who built his fortune outside of politics before being plucked back into the ANC's fold as former president Jacob Zuma's deputy in 2012.

He has served as deputy president and president of the country for a decade, and oversaw the "reform" agenda in the country to restore institutions and state-owned enterprises that were plundered during the so-called "lost decade" under Zuma.

Some of his biggest achievements have been the credibility restoration of the National Prosecuting Authority, which has been driving state capture arrests and prosecutions, and empowering the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) with the capacity to reclaim millions of taxpayers' money lost to corruption.

But Ramaphosa himself has been mired in a credibility crisis since the country's former spy boss, Arthur Fraser, opened a criminal case against the president for a burglary of millions of rands that happened at Ramaphosa's Phala Phala game farm in early 2020.

Ramaphosa was accused of covering up the source of the money, allegedly stashed in furniture, and of thwarting a proper police investigation into the case.

The Ngcobo report confirmed the suspicions and found Ramaphosa had to answer the case for possible impeachment.

Ramaphosa had limited options, which he discussed with political and legal advisers since late on Wednesday night.

News24 understands his decision was mainly influenced by the lack of political support he suffered in the ANC since the release of the report.

The president has seemingly bled support on the ANC's national executive committee (NEC) over the last 18 hours following the release of the independent panel's report.

This follows a marked sea-change in recent times, with frustration among supp...

President Cyril Ramaphosa, in flatly denying any wrongdoing related to the Phala Phala saga, has revealed that his game farm operates "largely at a loss" and has funded it largely out of pocket.

This is revealed in Ramaphosa’s response to the panel appointed by the Speaker of the National Assembly to assess whether or not he has a case to answer.

The panel, headed by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, delivered its report to the Speaker on Wednesday and it is expected to be published later Wednesday evening. The panel’s appointment and work is a preliminary step in Parliamentary processes around a motion, brought by opposition MP Vuyo Zungula of the ATM in July, that seeks to remove the president in terms of Section 89 of the Constitution.

Section 89 allows for the removal of sitting president on the grounds of a serious violation of the Constitution of the law; serious misconduct or an inability to perform the functions of the office.

Zungula’s motion advanced four charges that Ramaphosa was called on to respond to all linked to the burglary at his Phala Phala farm in February 2020 – but rather than focusing the allegations on the contents of the affidavit filed by former SSA boss Arthur Fraser with the police in June 2021, the charges in the motion centre around Ramaphosa’s public statements in the wake of Fraser opening the criminal complaint and causing the information to become public.

Ramaphosa has, in a detailed response running to some 138 pages including annexures, rebutted all four charges and advanced his own version to challenge not only the allegations, but also the premise of the charges themselves.

Charge 1 – The ANC Limpopo Speech Charge

This charge accuses Ramaphosa of violating two key sections of the Constitution – Section 96 (2) (a) and 83 (b) – the first that members of cabinet and deputy ministers may not undertake any other paid work and in the latter that the President must uphold, defend and protect the Constitution.

Zungula bolstered the charge by including a link to a speech Ramaphosa gave at an ANC conference in Limpopo. He alleges that Ramaphosa’s comments that he was a farmer, in the cattle and game business confirmed that he was actively involved in his business.

Ramaphosa’s response

Ntaba Nyoni Estates, a company of which Ramaphosa is the sole director, operates his game farming business at Phala Phala.

"I am the sole member [director] of the close corporation but I do not work for it and do not get any remuneration from Ntaba Nyoni. From the inception of Ntaba Nyoni in and around 2001, I have invested my and my family’s money to fund its operations largely at a loss," his submission to the panel reads.

Ramaphosa also said he was entitled to retain assets or financial interests "where no conflict of interest would arise, if these were declared".

"The ATM and EFF’s proposition that I have misconstrued my obligations in this regard is entirely without merit. I do not perform paid work for Ntaba Nyoni – nothing I said has ever suggested as much – nor do I receive remuneration for work or service other than my functions as President," the response adds.

Ramahosa also points out that the charge is "based on an error of law".

"The ATM seems to labour under the impression that I am forbidden from having any financial or business interests, or even investing in such interests. No such blanket prohibition exists."

Charge 2 – Failure to report

The second charge advanced is a violation of the law, with the ATM’s Zungula saying Ramaphosa violated Section 34 (1) of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (PRECCA).

Zungula alleges that Ramaphosa failed to report the theft of cash from his residence on the farm “to any police official as required by the Act”. The reporting of the burglary to Major General Wally Rhoode, a policeman and head of the presidential protection unit, was not compliance with the South African Police Service Act which directed that Section 34 PRECCA reports needed to...

Chris Hani's widow wants the Constitutional Court to rescind its decision to give murderer Janusz Waluś parole, but this will be a tall order a law expert told News24.

Limpho Hani and the South African Communist Party (SACP) have applied to the Constitutional Court to rescind its decision to give Walus parole. They want the case to be heard anew at a date to be determined by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

Last week, the apex court ruled that Waluś be released from Kgosi Mampuru prison in Tshwane within 10 working days, after he had served his sentence for Hani's 1993 murder.

On Tuesday, correctional services said an inmate stabbed Waluś. He is in a stable condition after receiving treatment in prison.

On Wednesday, members of the ANC, SACP and Cosatu staged a protest outside the prison. Organisers said they wanted to express their anger and dissatisfaction that Waluś was set to be released.

In her court papers, Hani argues that she was not "treated fairly by the court". She also says the judgment had "a patent error" because her submissions were not fully examined. She said only applications by Minister of Justice Ronald Lamola and Waluś were fully considered.

She said the court "lacked independence" by not evaluating her submissions.

In her affidavit, Hani said the decision by the court to grant Waluś parole by taking the power away from Lamola was an error.

She said Waluś's South African citizenship was revoked in 2016, and the court should have considered this before granting the parole.

"This Court denied the Minister an opportunity to deal with the most important aspect of parole in the present case, being the fact that the first respondent's citizenship has been revoked.

"Given the importance, the citizenship status on parole matters, and the fact that the status of the first respondent has never been fully canvassed before this Court and less or no information is placed before this Court. The Minister is incapable of releasing the applicant on day parole and/or imposing parole conditions on him in circumstances where his release from prison to serve parole in South Africa shall itself be an offence," she said.

Earlier this week, Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said Waluś had been granted citizenship so he could serve his parole here and not in his native Poland.

Constitutional law expert Professor Pierre de Vos said it was hard for the judgment to be rescinded.

"Right now, it will be hard to say, but it will all depend on the arguments they bring. They have to bring something that is plausible for it to be successful."

Waluś's lawyer, Julian Knight declined to comment on the application.

National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has stressed that the ceremonial handover of the Phala Phala report marks one of the indicative milestones in the country’s maturing constitutional democracy.

On Wednesday the Section 89 inquiry panel handed over the report to Mapisa-Nqakula, which consists of three volumes.

While Volume 1 is the report itself, Volumes 2 and 3 are a record of the proceedings which contains every document the panel relied on to prepare its report.

Retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, Judge Thokozile Masipa and advocate Sello Mahlape had been tasked with assessing whether President Cyril Ramaphosa has a case to answer for on constitutional grounds for the alleged theft of foreign currency at his Phala Phala farm nearly three years ago.

The panel was granted a 13-day extension to conclude its work by November the 30th.

In June the African Transformation Movement (ATM) submitted to Mapisa-Nqakula a motion requesting the House to initiate an inquiry into the removal of Ramaphosa on specific charges, but Mapisa-Nqakula declined the motion.

After further engagements, the ATM submitted an amended version of the motion in July, which Mapisa-Nqakula said was found to be in order.

The Speaker referred the submission, with supporting documents, to the Independent Panel, which she appointed after nominations by political parties.

She noted that the involvement of political parties in the constitution of the panel formed an essential element of independence to remove any perception of bias.

Ngcobo thanked the ATM, Economic Freedom Fighters, the United Democratic Movement and Ramaphosa for contributions made.

“Ironically it is precisely this information which made it impossible for us to meet the required deadline,” he said.

He highlighted that there had been anxiety from South Africans and he thanked them for their patience and for allowing the panel necessary space to do its work without any interruption.

He said the panel also made available the electronic version of the report to the Speaker.

The report will be communicated to MPs through the publication of the announcements, tablings and committee reports on Wednesday evening.

December 6 has been set aside for consideration of the report by the National Assembly.

Mapisa-Nqakula noted that the House would consider the report, its findings and recommendations then adopt a resolution through a symbol majority vote on whether further action by the House is necessary or not.

Attached is Ramaphosa's submissions to Independent Panel.

Not-for-profit organisation Freedom Under Law (FUL) has recommended that the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) be reconstituted to include more senior judges and fewer party-political appointees.

This comes from the organisation’s report ‘A Review of the Activities of the South African Judicial Service Commission 2009 to 2022’, which highlights key deficiencies in the composition and operation of the JSC and makes remedial recommendations and proposals to address the structural problems inherent in the JSC, as well as the challenges in its current processes.

FUL argued that, for years, the JSC had been prone to political interference in the appointment of judges.

Lead researcher and author of the report Calli Solik said the JSC’s Sifting Committee, which compiles a shortlist of candidates to be interviewed by the Commission, should reflect on how it decided on suitable candidates.

The report also highlighted the various criticisms levelled against the Sifting Committee’s interview process.

These include, “the clumsiness in its processes that is the result of an overlarge and eclectic body; the frequent failure on the part of the Chair to maintain fairness; the lack of clear guidelines or criteria in assessing candidates; great inconsistency in the depth and length of the questioning of candidates; the JSC’s understanding and implementation of its constitutional mandate in section 174(2); and party-political interference.”

The FUL said a major issue of the interviews was the lack of guidelines on how they arrived at their candidates.

FUL calls for clear guidelines for the interview process.

Solik also suggested the strengthening of the JSC’s secretariat, in-depth interviews and greater standardisation of the interview process.

She added that questions should be required to cover specific areas of accountability and the JSC should produce its reasons on how a particular candidate was appointed to reduce political interference.

Professor Emeritus of Public Law at the University of Cape Town and Freedom Under Law board member said the appointment and accountability of judges was critically important.

He said FUL had watched with dismay as the JSC failed to maintain the standards set by the transformative ethos of the South African Constitution since 2009.

He said the FUL board resolved in January to commission research into mandate appointment and accountability of the JSC.

FUL executive director Judith February said judicial selection, appointment and accountability were key aspects of the judicial system which was "fit for purpose and operates on the bases of integrity”.

She said over the past decade South Africa’s constitutional democracy had come under scrutiny, particularly relating to politicians and those who were under pressure from the recent damning findings of the Zondo Commission and even the legal fraternity.

She cited suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane “protecting” former President Jacob Zuma and some within the African National Congress and called out "narrow political focuses as factional battles are at play”.

She noted that many South Africans had criticised how matters had been politicized in the JSC, but added that despite pressure, the JSC had proven to be a resolute.

She emphasised that the strength of the judicial arm was a national constitutional asset and it should not be taken for granted.

Hawks boss Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya announced on Tuesday that Siphesihle Nkosi has been appointed new Deputy National Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), also known as the Hawks.

Nkosi was appointed on November 1 and comes into the position with experience in fraud and commercial crime investigations.

Nkosi, seven senior managers and 244 members – ranging from junior level to middle management – have been recently appointed as part of the Hawks’ continuous quest to fully capacitate the Directorate.

“It is encouraging to report that the DPCI has grown to 52% from the last financial year. The process of capacitating the DPCI is continuing,” Lebeya said.

He highlighted that the Hawks would be appointing a further five senior managers by December 1 and another three by January 1, 2023.

“Should an additional ten designate appointees successfully negotiate their Top Secret Security Clearance certificates, we will announce their appointments immediately,” he added.

Presenting the success of the DPCI in the least financial year, Lebeya revealed that at least 827 suspects had been arrested and appeared before the various courts across the country. He said during the same period, 217 accused persons were convicted and sentenced.

Most of the arrests emanate from Serious Organised Crime Investigations, which made up 524 arrests.

Fraud cases, which are investigated by the Hawks' Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team, recorded the highest number of arrests overall.

They secured 222 arrests across all provinces, Lebeya said.

He noted that Serious Commercial Crime was followed by Precious Metals and Diamonds – illegal mining activities – with 126 arrests.

Non-Ferrous Metal cases followed with 97 arrests and this involved theft of copper, railway lines and other essential infrastructure that aided economic activities in the country.

Lebeya noted that corruption continued to surface as one of the biggest threats posed by criminals in the country. He said illicit financial funds triggered the Hawks’ response to focus on money laundering charges initiated through criminal investigations.

He said corruption cases were a special breed, in that they were committed in secret by consenting parties, which required a lot of digging to unearth such cases.

“Although the number of arrests are the lowest from the Serious Corruption Investigation component, it is in line with the number of cases and resources assigned to deal with the phenomenon. A number of other corruption cases are also appearing in the figures of Serious Commercial Crime Investigation. We have made some strides in that front and some of the cases that required high level of meticulous investigation carried out by our team of investigators in rooting out these corrupt elements are mentioned here,” he highlighted.

The official unemployment rate declined further to 32.9% in the third quarter of 2022, from 33.9% in the second, Statistics SA reported on Tuesday.

Unemployment hit a record high of 35.3% in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) shows that 204 000 jobs were gained between the second and third quarter of 2022.

The largest job gains were in manufacturing (+123 000), trade (+82 000), construction (+46 000) and transport (+33 000).

Job losses were however recorded in the finance sector (-80 000), private households (-36 000) and mining and agriculture (-1 000) each.

The expanded unemployment rate - which includes discouraged job seekers who have given up looking for work - decreased to 43.1% from 44.1% in the second quarter.

The QLFS has faced some scrutiny in recent months, amid growing concern about the reliability of SA’s employment data.

Statistics SA is meant to collect data on the employment status of 33 000 households – which is extrapolated to determine the jobless rates for around 40-million adults in the country. However, last year it contacted fewer than 14 300 households. The interviews were done telephonically - not face-to-face as before the pandemic.

At the start of this year, however, in-person interviews resumed.

News24 previously reported that the head of the Statistics Council, the advisory board to Statistics SA, raised the alarm about the quality of the unemployment data.

The Western Cape legislature Speaker Masizole Mnqasela has been given one day to re-apply for Democratic Alliance (DA) membership.

The DA announced on Monday it had terminated Mnqasela's membership following disparaging comments he made about the party during a media briefing on Sunday.

The party's federal chairperson Helen Zille said his remarks were "in violation of the terms of the cease-and-desist letter sent to the Speaker by the party's federal executive".

"Mnqasela has until 10:00 tomorrow to re-apply for membership to the DA," she added.

The move comes after the DA filed a motion of no confidence against Mnqasela on Friday.

During Sunday's briefing, Mnqasela made remarks about the party's caucus leader Alan Winde, who had asked him to resign after whistleblowers had handed over a mountain of evidence revealing Mnqasela's travel and entertainment claims as well as apparent lavish spending while on official government business.

"There has been a jumping of the gun by individuals, and I'm not surprised Alan Winde told me in May already that I should go," he said.

Mnqasela slammed the party's motion against him as a "witch hunt".

I believe that it was important to speak about this and what it means for me and for the legislature. I am a politician, so I'm not naive, and I have continued to dismiss these allegations as baseless and malicious. It was a political witch hunt.

Mnqasela added that he was not above the institution, but stressed processes must be followed.

"People must not be excited to remove me as Speaker. I believe in something called process integrity. It protects you even though people don't like you. I don't expect people to like me," he said before issuing a stern warning to the party.

"You don't touch me and expect ... no consequences for those actions. This has done so much damage to me as an individual, to my family and my character," he said.

Mnqasela was suspended from all DA-related activities, pending an investigation into the allegations of fraud and excessive spending.

News24 understands that Mnqasela will be consulting with his lawyers following the termination of his membership.

The provincial legislature's programming committee is expected to sit on Tuesday to deliberate when to schedule the motion of no confidence against him.

Winde declined to comment on the matter.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is set to legally challenge Parliament's decision to not find suitable venues after the devastating January fire.

According to the DA, little to no work has been done to investigate and hold to account the people responsible.

"It has been over 10 months since the fire that gutted Parliament," said DA chief whip Siviwe Gwarube.

On Monday, party bosses presented their year in review of the work done in Parliament.

"This is why we have taken the decision to refer Parliament's refusal to find alternative venues for the institution to conduct its work – while the rebuilding is set to commence – to our lawyers for review and challenging.

"We believe that this decision is in direct contravention of Sections 59 and 72 of the Constitution, which force both the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces – respectively – to facilitate public involvement in the processes of the Assembly, committees and conduct its business in a manner that is accessible to the public," Gwarube said.

In addition to this, Chapter 4, part 4, of the National Assembly Rules places the responsibility for ensuring public access and participation in the business of Parliament firmly with the Speaker.

"Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is responsible – as per the rules – to ensure that the institution gives effect to the Constitution. We have given this process almost a year; it is clear that the ANC is only too happy to have Parliament's oversight mechanisms hamstrung. That is why we will seek to approach the courts. For South Africa to work, Parliament must work optimally," Gwarube said.

Parliamentary meetings have, in the main, been held on virtual platforms, while some, like the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, have recently opted for physical, in-person meetings.

The virtual meetings were implemented in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the destruction of the National Assembly building saw the online system's continued use.

According to Gwarube, progress should have been made to find suitable, alternative venues for Parliament and its committees to convene.

"The Good Hope Chamber, which has been a stop-gap measure, cannot be the way that Parliament conducts its business. The chamber can only accommodate 120 of the 400 members. Of our 84 members of the National Assembly, only 19 are accommodated as the official opposition," she said.

Other political parties have far less representation in the Good Hope Chamber.

"Many committees – which are meant to be the engine-room for the business of Parliament – meet online, which is less than optimal, and is exclusionary to most South Africans who wish to follow the work done here," she said.

Gwarube said there was a misconception that Parliament belonged to politicians.

"It belongs to the people who have sent us here to serve them. The business of Parliament must directly reflect the issues facing many South Africans. It cannot be a detached institution that is not fulfilling its constitutional mandate," she said.

In October, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced that R2-billion would be set aside to restore the parliamentary buildings.

Parliament will also receive an allocation of R118-million for unforeseen and unavoidable expenditure, as a result of the impact of both the fire and Covid-19 on the operations of Parliament.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that to give meaning to 16 Days of Activism, men need to be engaged in a dialogue about their responsibility towards women and toxic masculinity.

Ramaphosa wrote in his weekly letter to the nation that all of society should be mobilised to organise these men’s dialogues.

Last week Police Minister Bheki Cele released the quarterly crime statistics, which showed that between July and September 30, 989 women were murdered, 1 277 were victims of attempted murder and more than 13 000 were victims of serious assault.

In just these three months, more than 10 000 rape cases were opened with the South African Police Service (Saps) and over 500 children were killed.

Ramaphosa said the men of South Africa owe it to women and children to take up the struggle against gender-based violence (GBV).

“While we should be encouraged that many of the perpetrators are not being allowed to get away with their crimes, our foremost task is to prevent men and boys from becoming abusers in the first place,” said Ramaphosa.

He noted that men are the perpetrators of GBV and it is therefore men that need to change.

“It is men – as husbands and partners, as fathers, colleagues, peers and classmates – who need to consider their own attitudes towards women and girls,” he explained.

Ramaphosa called on Ministers, Premiers, religious, political and community leaders, sports people, artists, celebrities, and businesspeople to participate in men’s dialogues, and said he himself is ready to participate.

He said these men’s dialogues can be platforms for men to challenge each other to become better men, more responsible, more understanding and more caring.

He highlighted that government, non-governmental organisations and the private sector should be encouraged to support such dialogues in every workplace, place of worship, school, college and university, and in every community.

“Every day various entities devote resources to public engagements, conferences and seminars on various pressing social, economic and political issues of the day. These are forums where this engagement should happen,” he said.

Ramaphosa noted that eradicating GBV is no less urgent or important, saying these crimes affect every aspect of the country’s society, including health and well-being, safety and security, and economic growth and productivity.

“In these dialogues, we need to examine our understanding of sexual consent. We must challenge the myth that rape is only considered rape if it involves a stranger, or if the victim responded by screaming for help, fighting back or reporting the matter immediately to the police,” he said.

He went on to say that by bringing together men of all races, classes and generations to speak frankly about their understanding of masculinity, it can be shown how some assumptions and practices that many people consider ‘normal’ are harmful to women and children.

“We must change beliefs that men are strong and women are weak, that men have to be in charge, or that men can do as they please with women. Men need to understand that they can and should express their pain and frustrations without inflicting harm on others,” Ramaphosa said.