World

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has told a probe into a burglary scandal enmeshing him that $580,000 in cash stolen from beneath sofa cushions at his ranch came from a cattle buyer, according to leaked documents on Wednesday.

The sum is part of what the media has reported as a cash haul of $4 million that was stolen at Ramaphosa’s farm — a burglary that he is accused of trying to cover up.

A three-person special panel investigating the affair submitted on Wednesday its report to parliament, which next week will decide whether to push ahead with a vote to impeach the president.

Ramaphosa told the inquiry that the accusations against him are “without any merit,” according to a leak of documents published by local media.

“This matter ought not to be taken any further,” he said in his submission.

However, the leak provided juicy insights into a scandal that has tarnished Ramaphosa’s clean image, imperilling his bid for a second term at the helm of the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

– ‘Cash and cushions’ –

The affair erupted in June after South Africa’s former national spy boss filed a complaint with the police.

It alleged that Ramaphosa had hidden a burglary at his farm at Phala Phala in northeastern South Africa from the authorities.

Instead, he allegedly organised for the robbers to be kidnapped and bribed into silence.

The president has denied any wrongdoing, and spelt out his position at length in the 138-page submission.

“I did not ‘hunt’ for the perpetrators of the theft, as alleged, nor did I give any instructions for this to take place,” he wrote.

Ramaphosa said that $580,000 stashed beneath the cushions was payment made by a Sudanese citizen who had bought buffaloes.

Before the sale, the farm’s manager and Ramaphosa had discussed disposing of buffaloes that were “substandard” and a “financial drain” due to high veterinary and feeding costs, he wrote. 

Staff at the farm initially locked the money in an office safe, Ramaphosa said. 

But the lodge manager then decided that the “safest place” to store it would be under the cushions of a sofa inside Ramaphosa’s residence at the farm, he said. 

– Re-election bid –

Ramaphosa, a 70-year-old former trade union boss who made a fortune in business in post-apartheid South Africa, has two farms.

In his submission, he described his passion for cattle — something that led him in 2017 to write a book called “Cattle of the Ages.” 

Ramaphosa came to power in 2018 on a promise to root out graft after the corruption-stained era of his boss, Jacob Zuma.

He faces elections on December 16 in his bid for a second term as president of the deeply-factionalised ANC.

That position, as head of the dominant party in parliament, is also key to his survival as national president.

Ramaphosa is facing a challenge from Zweli Mkhize, 66, an ex-health minister who resigned from government last year amid graft allegations. 

The special panel was set up in September following a clamour by the opposition.

It was tasked with ascertaining whether there was sufficient evidence to show that the president committed a serious violation of the constitution or the law or a serious misconduct.

Lawmakers will examine the report’s findings in a one-day sitting on December 6, and adopt a resolution, “through a simple majority vote, whether a further action by the House is necessary or not,” said National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.

If so, the next step could be a vote to remove the president, which to be successful would require approval by at least two-thirds of the seats in the assembly.

Mapisa-Nqakula described the handover of the report as “one of the indicative milestones in South Africa’s maturing constitutional democracy.”

It should be published within 24 hours, she said.

At least 19 people were killed and 24 others wounded Wednesday by a blast at a madrassa in Afghanistan’s northern city of Aybak, a doctor at a local hospital told AFP.

There have been dozens of blasts and attacks targeting civilians since the Taliban returned to power in August last year, most claimed by the local chapter of the Islamic State (IS) group.

The doctor in Aybak, about 200 kilometres (130 miles) north of the capital Kabul, said the casualties were mostly youngsters.

“All of them are children and ordinary people,” he told AFP, asking not to be named.

A provincial official confirmed the blast at Al Jihad madrassa, an Islamic religious school, but could not provide casualty figures.

The Taliban, which frequently plays down casualty figures, said 10 students had died and “many others” were injured.

“Our detective and security forces are working quickly to identify the perpetrators of this unforgivable crime and punish them for their actions,” tweeted Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafay Takor.

Images and video circulating on social media — which could not immediately be verified — showed Taliban fighters picking their way through bodies strewn across the floor of a building.

Prayer mats, shattered glass and other debris littered the scene.

– Lull between blasts –

The Aybak doctor said some critically wounded patients had been moved to better-equipped hospitals in Mazar-i-Sharif, which is about 120 kilometres away by road.

“Those who are here… were mostly hurt by shrapnel and blast waves. They had some shrapnel on their body and face,” he said.

Aybak is a small but ancient provincial capital that came to prominence as a caravan stopping post for traders during the fourth and fifth centuries when it was also an important Buddhist centre.

There has been a lull of a few weeks between major blasts targeting civilians in Afghanistan, although several Taliban fighters have been killed in isolated attacks. 

In September, at least 54 people — including 51 girls and young women — were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a device at a hall in Kabul packed with hundreds of students sitting a practice test for university admissions.

No group claimed responsibility for that bombing, but the Taliban later blamed the Islamic State and said it had killed several ringleaders.

In May last year, before the Taliban’s return to power, at least 85 people — mainly girls — were killed and about 300 were wounded when three bombs exploded near their school in the neighbourhood

No group claimed responsibility, but a year earlier IS claimed a suicide attack on an educational centre in the area that killed 24.

The Taliban’s return to power brought an end to their insurgency, but IS continues to stage attacks across the country.

The Taliban movement — made up primarily of ethnic Pashtuns — has pledged to protect minorities and clamp down on security threats.

Amnesty International called the blast “disturbing”, adding in a tweet it was “yet another reminder to the world that the sufferings of Afghan people are far from over.”

China has room to adjust its strict zero-Covid policy, the IMF said Wednesday, while underlining that the country’s tough virus restrictions have been especially hard on its people.

Demonstrations against the measures have erupted across major Chinese cities in recent days, in a rare outpouring of public frustration not seen since pro-democracy rallies in 1989 were crushed with deadly force.

“Covid and Covid-related restrictions are hard on people… This has been the case everywhere, and even more so in China,” an IMF spokesperson told AFP in an emailed statement.

Almost three years into the pandemic, China still deploys strict virus containment policies including snap lockdowns of entire neighborhoods and cities to stamp out flare-ups, with the measures taking a heavy toll on consumers and businesses.

While authorities have made policies more targeted, “there is scope for further gradual, safe recalibration,” the Washington-based fund said.

The IMF spokesperson added that control measures after outbreaks, including major business hub Shanghai which was sealed off for months this year, weighed on domestic economic activity.

The zero-Covid policies have also had spillover effects outside China, interrupting regional and global supply chains.

With the country’s economy only “partially recovered so far,” an adjustment of its current policy could help growth pick up in 2023 and support the global economy at a difficult time, the IMF said.

On Tuesday, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva warned it might have to slash growth forecasts for China, saying this is a time of “high uncertainty.”

In October, the IMF cut its projection for the country’s economic growth to 3.2 percent this year.

Georgieva added on Tuesday that Beijing is looking into its zero-Covid approach “with a perspective to shift to more targeted response.”

For now, China continues to see clashes between police and protesters as a wave of demonstrations sparked by Covid-lockdowns expand into demands for greater freedoms.

German energy giant Uniper said Wednesday it was taking Gazprom to an international tribunal over the Russian company’s failure to deliver gas, saying it has so far cost them 11.6 billion euros ($12 billion).

After Moscow invaded Ukraine, Gazprom steadily dwindled pipeline supplies to Germany in apparent retaliation for Western sanctions on Russia, sending energy prices soaring. 

Germany’s biggest gas importer, Uniper was left facing bankruptcy, prompting the government to announce it would nationalise the firm over fears its failure could send shockwaves through Europe’s top economy.

The German company said it had begun legal action against Gazprom at a tribunal in Stockholm, claiming damages over gas that had not been delivered since June. 

“It is about gas volumes that were contractually agreed with Gazprom but not delivered and for which we had to procure replacements at extremely high market prices and still have to do so,” CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach said in a statement.

Uniper has been forced to buy replacement gas at higher costs, which it said had so far cost 11.6 billion euros, with the figure set to continue growing until the end of 2024.

“We incurred these costs, but they are not our responsibility,” added Maubach.

Gazprom confirmed Uniper had launched legal action, adding that it “does not recognise the breach of contracts and the legitimacy of the claims for damages”, according to a statement carried by Russian news agencies.

Earlier this month, Uniper reported a 40-billion-euro net loss for the first nine months of the year, one of the biggest losses in German corporate history.

As part of the rescue deal, the government initially said it would pump eight billion euros into Uniper. 

But last week, the company said Berlin would need to spend an additional 25 billion euros to stave off the firm’s collapse.

The government will finance the rescue out of a 200-billion-euro fund designed to cushion the impact of the energy crisis on households and businesses.

Uniper will ask shareholders to formally approve the deal on December 19.

A security guard at Ukraine’s embassy in Madrid was lightly injured Wednesday while opening a letter bomb addressed to the Ukrainian ambassador, prompting Kyiv to boost security at its embassies.

The letter, which arrived by regular post, exploded as the guard opened it in the embassy garden, said the central government’s representative in Madrid, Mercedes Gonzalez.

“Fortunately it was not serious, the person has a small injury to his right hand. The letter was addressed to the ambassador,” she said during an interview with TV station Telemadrid.

A police source said the man had been “lightly” injured and “went himself to a hospital” for treatment.

Spain’s National Police force were informed at around 1:00 pm (1200 GMT) of an explosion at the Ukranian embassy in Madrid, the source added.

Police have opened an investigation “which includes the participation of forensic police,” the source said without giving further details.

A security cordon was put in place by the police around the embassy, located in a leafy residential area in northern Madrid.

A man who lives in front of the embassy, who asked not to be identified, told AFP that he had stepped out to walk his dogs and now police where preventing him from returning home.

“I heard it, I thought it was gunshot. It was not too loud,” he said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba ordered the strengthening of security at all Ukrainian embassies, Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said on social media after the letter bomb went off.

Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares has spoken with Ukraine’s ambassador to Spain by telephone “to ask about the well-being of the Ukrainian worker who was injured,” the Spanish foreign ministry said in a statement.

Albares also contacted Kuleba by telephone to express his “support and solidarity”, it added.