Taxpayer burden? DA seeks clarity on Ramaphosa’s Zimbabwe visit

Ramaphosa

Cape Town – The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it will submit parliamentary questions to the Presidency over President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent visit to Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s private residence, demanding clarity on whether South African taxpayers funded the trip.

In a statement issued on Friday, DA spokesperson on International Relations and Cooperation, Ryan Smith, said the party wanted answers regarding what the Presidency described as “an in-person catch-up between two neighbours”.

“South African taxpayers deserve to know whether they are footing the bill for the president to fraternise with those responsible for Zimbabwe’s captured state,” Smith said.

The DA’s concerns follow reports that Zimbabwean businessman Wicknell Chivhayo, who allegedly formed part of the meeting delegation, is under investigation by South Africa’s Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) over allegations of laundering more than R800 million in Zimbabwean public funds linked to the country’s 2023 general election.

According to the DA, Chivhayo’s bank accounts and high-value assets worth an estimated R5 billion were also frozen by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

“It is telling that just six months after South Africa managed to exit the Financial Action Task Force’s greylist, our president continues to rub shoulders with alleged money launderers operating in our own country,” Smith said.

The opposition party also criticised the Presidency’s explanation that Ramaphosa was unaware of the identities of individuals in the Zimbabwean delegation.

“The Presidency’s claims that President Ramaphosa was unaware of the identities forming part of the Zimbabwean meeting delegation are a hollow excuse for a long history of African National Congress leaders who have openly fraternised with Zimbabwean dictators since ZANU-PF captured the country’s democracy,” Smith said.

The DA further accused the ANC of maintaining close ties with Zimbabwe’s ruling elite despite allegations of corruption and democratic decline in the neighbouring country.

“President Ramaphosa’s meeting with Wicknell Chivhayo is not some random event which occurred by chance,” Smith said. “The President’s engagement with deeply corrupt Zimbabwean businessmen, colloquially known as the ‘Zimbabwean Guptas’, is not by accident, but by diplomatic design.”

Smith argued that Zimbabwe’s political and economic challenges had contributed significantly to migration pressures in South Africa.

“Zimbabwe’s democratic backslide is the sole reason for the immigration crisis South Africa has been subjected to since the late 90s, which places a tremendous burden on civic and social services, and stokes violent societal division in our country,” he said.

The DA also took aim at presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya, who recently said Africa needed to address “the root causes of high levels of migration, including conflict and misgovernance”.

“It is high time Mr Magwenya and the ANC confront their own role in propping up and celebrating the very African dictatorships which are the root cause of migration and instability on the continent,” Smith said.

The party said it expected accountability from its partner in the Government of National Unity (GNU).

“As a member of the Government of National Unity the DA will not tolerate the ANC’s excuses for smiling and waving with those responsible for Zimbabwe’s demise,” Smith said. “There must be diplomatic and economic consequences for those who jail opposition politicians, interfere with democratic processes, and capture elections – not Sunday afternoon jaunts.”

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