Ramaphosa cleared again by Public Protector on allegations of misconduct

In the closing report into allegations stemming back to 2021, that President Cyril Ramaphosa personally invited a property development company to become part of the Mooikloof project in contravention of the PFMA, the Public Protector has now cleared him of any misconduct.

Ramaphosa cleared again by Public Protector on allegations of misconduct

Public Protector Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka has cleared President Cyril Ramaphosa of wrongdoing in a complaint against him over his alleged breach of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) when he invited developers Balwin Properties (Pty) Ltd to become part of the Mooikloof housing project in 2020.

The announcement was made during a media briefing by the Office of the Public Protector on Thursday. Gcaleka released the findings of five reports her office had completed in the fourth quarter of 2023/24 financial year.

Ramaphosa launched the R30-billion private-sector housing project, at Mooikloof east of Pretoria, in October 2020. It is privately owned and developed by Balwin Properties after it was gazetted as a strategic project for the government.

This is the second time President Ramaphosa has been cleared of wrongdoing by the Public Protector. In July 2023, Gcaleka cleared Ramaphosa of wrongdoing in the complaint against him over the handling of housebreaking and forex theft at his private Phala Phala farm in Limpopo, which occurred in 2022.

Her announcement came on the back of a leaked preliminary report by the Public Protector, which quashed allegations that the President had failed to report the crime of housebreaking at Phala Phala with any ill intent.

In the breakdown of her report on Thursday, Gcaleka said the investigation stemmed from a complaint lodged with the Public Protector by the chief whip of the African Transformation Movement (ATM), Thandiswa Marawu on 16 February 2021.

Marawu was concerned about the “potential maladministration relating to the flouting” of the PFMA after stumbling upon a media clip of the CEO of Balwin Properties relaying how “he received a call directly from the President inviting him to become part” of the Mooikloof project.

She was also concerned whether Balwin Properties complied with the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) requirements that all government suppliers are supposed to comply with in accordance with the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act, 2003.

Based on an analysis of Marawu’s complaint, Gcaleka investigated whether the President’s invitation to Balwin to become part of Mooikloof was in contravention of the PFMA and the supply chain management (SCM) processes, “and whether such conduct was improper as envisaged in section 182(1)(a) of the Constitution and amounts to maladministration as contemplated in section 6(4)(a)(i) of the Public Protector Act, 1994.”

She found Marawu’s allegations that the President’s invitation to the company was in contravention of the PFMA and SCM processes, were not substantiated.

“We found that Mooikloof was designated as a Strategic Integrated Project (SIP) and listed as part of the 18 other sub-projects under Human Settlements in terms of Gazette Number 43547 of 2020, in accordance with 7(3) of the Infrastructure Development Act of 2014, which provides that a strategic integrated project may [have] private infrastructure, provided it is with the consent of the owner.”

Accordingly, the conduct of the President did not constitute procurement as envisaged in Section 217 of the Constitution and Section 38 of the PFMA, and therefore it does not constitute improper conduct and maladministration, Gcaleka concluded. DM