Ramaphosa defends adviser Bejani Chauke over vote-buying allegations

Allegations that presidential special adviser Bejani Chauke bought his way into the ANC’s top structure are not supported by evidence.

This is according to President Cyril Ramaphosa, who on Monday came to his adviser’s defence over widespread allegations that Chauke dished out money to branches and conference delegates during the campaign season.

Chauke was at the time campaigning to become the party’s treasurer-general, a position he lost to Gwen Ramokgopa.

He made it on to the coveted national executive committee (NEC), which is the ANC's highest decision-making body between conferences.

Ramaphosa said the people who were making allegations about vote-buying against Chauke could not provide evidence.

Chauke, who helped Ramaphosa at the 2017 ANC conference, is alleged to be the president’s “bag man” with their relationship spanning more than a decade.

ANC national chair Gwede Mantashe gave credence to the allegations during an interview with eNCA last year.

He said: “There was a man who was [contesting] for treasurer-general. He worked in the office of the president. We raised our concern to say, ‘this person is in your office, he's going around buying votes. Please deal with that issue.’ Fortunately, he was not elected treasurer-general”.

Ramaphosa this week told Eyewitness News t he has asked Mantashe to provide evidence to back his remarks.

According to Ramaphosa, these were some of the many rumours thrown around inside and outside the ANC.

“I raised this with the national chairperson and said: ‘What was that [allegation] based on?’ He hasn't given me any information on that,” said Ramaphosa. “Sometimes it's easy to make these types of statements, and they're often made in the ANC, that there's been use of money. When you look at it more closely, when it comes to the real evidence, it's hard to come by.”

Chauke is so closely tied to Ramaphosa that he found himself facing allegations regarding the theft of millions in foreign currency from Phala Phala, the president’s farm in Limpopo.

Though he said he has never set foot on the farm, Chauke has been accused of transporting the money to the farm.  

He has denied rumours linking him to the theft, saying the allegations were politically motivated.

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