Ntshavheni says Mogoeng wants to rule from the grave, for criticising Ramaphosa

Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has hit back at retired chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng over his criticism of President Cyril Ramaphosa this week.

Ntshavheni said Mogoeng, who retired in 2021, wants to rule from the grave.

Addressing the inaugural SAFM lecture on Wednesday, Mogoeng said Ramaphosa should have disclosed his CR17 campaign donors.

This was in relation to the donations made to Ramaphosa’s campaign for the ANC presidency in 2017.

“On the comments of Mogoeng, they are unfortunate because he had a minority judgment on that, and it’s unfortunate that he wants to rule and express a view from the grave,” said Ntshavheni.

In a speech delivered on Wednesday evening, Mogoeng said the possibility of activating the transformative constitutionalism and legal machinery, and to ensure accountability, responsiveness and openness, lies with the fundamentals of how one ascends to the highest position in a political party, and by extension to the highest offices of the state.

“Who facilitates a politician’s upward mobility? is a question that must necessarily and relentlessly exercise our minds. For the biting truth is that there is no free lunch in this world.”

Mogoeng said the private funding of individuals in political parties and of political parties, was an investment expected to yield handsome returns as soon as the beneficiaries rose to positions of sufficient authority to dole out favours and tenders.

“And this is a well-researched reality by mature democracies like the US.”

A compromised leader was more likely to compromise others as well, he said.

“When people or entities other than the then-deputy president’s party gave him sponsorship or financial assistance for the purpose of realising his ultimate political dream he was, by accepting help or allowing others to accept help on his behalf, exposing himself to a situation involving the risk of conflict.

“That sponsorship or financial assistance to help him rise to the highest political office is most likely to induce a favourable disposition towards those who stood by him when help was sorely needed ... and that is what the risk of conflict sought to be averted through these legal instruments or the duty to disclose entails.”

Mogoeng said private funders do not thoughtlessly throw their resources around. They do so for a reason and strategically. 

“Some pour in their resources because the policies of a particular party or independent candidate resonate with their world outlook or ideology. Others do so hoping to influence the policy direction of those they support to advance personal or sectional interests.

“Money is the tool they use to secure special favours or selfishly manipulate those who are required to serve and treat all citizens equally,” he said.

Unchecked or secret private funding, including from other nations, could undermine the fulfilment of constitutional obligations by political parties or independent candidates, and by extension the nation’s strategic objectives, sovereignty and ability to secure a “rightful place” in the family of nations.

“Our freely elected representatives cannot help build a free society if they are not themselves free of hidden potential bondage or captivation. Why would anybody not want to know who is helping them and how reasonably practicable is that anyway? And why would they want their benefactors to be unknown to parliament or the public?” Mogoeng said.

He said Ramaphosa, therefore, had the duty to know, if he did not know already, who was funding his campaign and to disclose that personal benefit compositely as a benefit from the CR17 campaign as an entity and/or more appropriately from each donor with a specified amount. 

This would be so that parliament and the public would know who was helping or had helped him perform better than his competitors and enabled him to become ANC president and a few months later president of the republic. 

“The possibility of an unhealthy relationship with donors and the risk of conflict between the deputy president’s official responsibilities, as he then was, and his private interests, as the enabled most senior political party functionary, could then be closely watched to check whether the financial support had induced him or repositioned his disposition to the point where his commitment to his constitutional obligations was in any way compromised.”

Mogoeng said this is what the foundational values of openness and accountability as well as the regulatory framework seek to address.

During the course of an investigation into a R500,000 donation by Bosasa, former public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane concluded Ramaphosa failed to disclose donations made to him and his CR17 campaign during 2017 in his capacity as deputy president of the country.

In addition, Mkhwebane formed an opinion that some of the payments made raised a reasonable suspicion of money-laundering. 

However, her report was set aside by the full bench of the Pretoria high court, and her appeal was dismissed by the Constitutional Court in 2021, but Mogoeng, then chief justice, penned a dissenting judgment, agreeing with her findings.

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