A parliamentary legal opinion cites Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane as the only authority who can determine whether President Cyril Ramaphosa broke the law by failing to declare his knowledge of state money allegedly stolen by his rivals to pay for their ANC presidential bid in 2017.
However, the legal advice prepared on Tuesday for the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) states that the committee may call on Ramaphosa to provide information on the matter, and “if, indeed, public funds of any government department or public entity had been utilised for unauthorised purposes, Scopa is mandated to further investigate and consider such matter”.