President Cyril Ramaphosa will be given about eight days to explain in writing to parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) the meaning of remarks he made about the use of state funds for party political campaigning at a meeting of the ANC’s national executive committee late in 2021.

An audio clip of about two minutes of Ramaphosa’s remarks was widely distributed to the public. It suggested that state funds including those of the State Security Agency (SSA) were used in the run-up to the ANC’s elective conference...