Cyril Ramaphosa accused of links to criminal cartel

South Africa’s criminal justice system is required to report back to President Cyril Ramaphosa; therefore, argues Political Analyst Prince Mashele, he must be involved in criminal syndicates that have allegedly taken over the system

Mashele revealed his theory of the President’s awareness of these criminal activities during an interview on SMWX. 

Mashele was reflecting on the last few weeks of a parliamentary Ad Hoc committee probe and the Madlanga Special Commission of inquiry into corruption in the criminal justice system. 

The bodies were formed after Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi made allegations of political interference in the South African Police and Judiciary in July. 

This included the allegation that now-suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu’s directive to disband the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) was for the purpose of obstructing an investigation into criminal networks, in which he was involved.

Mchunu said he briefed the President on the dissolution of the PKTT in December, when the President found out about it over social media, 2 months after it happened. 

Mashele said that, if called to testify, Ramaphosa will say that he doesn’t know anything about this. But, he warned, South Africans should not be fooled.

“The president knew everything. The intelligence reports to him,” Mashele explained. “The president is part of the criminal cartels that have taken over our state.”

Mashele explained that it is suspicious that Mchunu, as a Minister, had the backbone to dissolve the PKTT without telling the president. “Where does Mchunu get that confidence?” he said, 

The President committed to forming the special branch of police in 2018. “It was set up by the president, but a mere minister has the guts to dissolve it without informing him?”

Mashele said this proves Ramaphosa was in the know regarding the political interference in the criminal justice system.

“That’s why Mchunu knew there would be no consequences for him,” Mashele said. Equally suspicious, the analyst noted that Ramaphosa did nothing when he found out about the disbanding of the PKTT. 

‘The President knew everything’

“If I were president and I set up a crime-fighting mechanism and an interministerial committee to deal with crime, and I learned two months later that my minister overruled me. I would fire the minister,” Mashele said. 

The analyst also addressed allegations that Ramaphosa is connected to Tembisa Hospital corruption kingpin Hangwani Maumela. 

A Special Investigating Unit (SIU) investigation recently led to the South African Police Service raiding Maumela’s Sandhurst mansion. 

Authorities seized Lamborghini vehicles, luxury art, and other assets following an interim court order to preserve approximately R900 million in assets allegedly linked to irregular payments from Tembisa Hospital.

Ramaphosa married Maumela’s aunt 47 years ago and divorced her 43 years ago. He claims he does not know Maumela; however, a resurfaced video showed the two together outside of Maumela’s mansion. 

Ramaphosa then explained in an oral session at the National Council of Provinces that he had only met Maumela twice by coincidence, while on his daily 10 km walks. 

Mashele does not believe this and critiqued the President for changing his story. “He knows Maumela very well. This whole idea that he didn’t know is absolute nonsense.”

Ramaphosa has been directly implicated in the testimony of former Minister of Police Bheki Cele. 

Cele claimed that Senzo Mchunu met with alleged criminal kingpins Vusimusi ‘Cat’ Matlala and Oupa Brown Magotsi to discuss his ANC campaign. 

This was leading up to the ANC presidential elections in 2017, when Ramaphosa won the presidency. 

Mchunu was one of Ramaphosa’s most prominent supporters and campaign coordinator for KwaZulu-Natal. He recently denied allegations of the meeting in parliament. 

The campaign, CR17, was under suspicion of money laundering by Parliament in relation to its donations, as records of the donations were sealed. 

A 194 enquiry committee raised concerns that the fund was used by prominent individuals to buy influence.