CR17: High Court Ruling States That Bank Statements Will Remain Sealed After EFF Application

• The High Court in Gauteng has dismissed the EFF's application to unseal the CR17 bank statements
• The Red Berets attempted to unseal the documents after the application was made in relation to the Public Protector's report, which was said to be invalidated
• The statements, which reportedly contained information about the donors who funded President Cyril Ramaphosa's campaign in 2017, are to remain sealed

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The Gauteng High Court has dismissed the Economic Freedom Fighters' application to have the bank statements of President Cyril Ramaphosa's CR17 campaign made public. The EFF previously went to the court to attempt to force the disclosure of the payment details.

The application was in relation to Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's report on the campaign's finances as part of an invalidated report. During the course of the court proceedings, Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba positively looked at a request from the president's lawyers for the bank statements to be sealed.

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The basis for the statements remaining sealed is that they contain information about donors, which is confidential. The EFF later went forth and challenged the above decision.

TimesLIVE reported that documents brought to the court, under the rules of the court, are usually open to the public domain. However, the President's lawyers sealed the statements from the public, stating that the issue should be raised in court by those wishing to challenge the decision.

A report by News24 stated that SC for the EFF, Ishmael Semenya, stated that the party was not trying to say that the donations to the campaign contained anything 'untoward' but he did argue that the information was meant to the public but was kept confidential.

Semenya added that there were issues that could be used by politicians to use the public office to push other agendas of benefactors forward.

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Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng rejected the Constitutional Court ruling, says Ramaphosa did benefit from the donations

Previously, Briefly News reported that Mogoeng came out with a minority judgement in the case of the Public Protector vs President Cyril Ramaphosa. In his judgment, Mogoeng believes that Ramaphosa did personally benefit from his CR17 campaign to become president of the ANC.

Mogoeng stated that Ramaphosa was the direct beneficiary of the donations received by the CR17 campaign, stating that the act of receiving donations constituted personal benefit, according to The South African. In a report by IOL, Mogoeng stated that by accepting donations, Ramaphosa put himself at risk of being in a conflict of interest.

”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,” said Mogoeng.

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Source: Briefly News