Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Public Protector has dismissed an ethics complaint against President Cyril Ramaphosa over his conduct during 2025’s Oval Office meeting with United States (US) President Donald Trump.
The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party’s Mzwanele Manyi had complained that Ramaphosa had violated the Executive Ethics Code for failing to counter remarks by Minister John Steenhuisen about the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in relation to the Government of National Unity (GNU).
But the Public Protector said the president had no legal duty to rebut Steenhuisen’s comments.
In its complaint, the MK Party held the view that Ramaphosa should have disassociated himself or corrected the remarks that Steenhuisen made about the party during their US visit.
“We cannot have those people sitting in the Union Buildings, making decisions. We’ve decided to join hands precisely to keep that lot out of government” said Steenhuisen.
After an investigation of video recordings, correspondence, constitutional provisions, and the Executive Ethics Code, the Public Protector said she found no evidence that the president had breached the code in that setting.
In her findings, Kholeka Gcaleka said Steenhuisen’s comments about the MK Party and the EFF were made in his capacity as a Democratic Alliance (DA) leader, not as government policy.
The president, thus, had no legal duty to rebut political statements made by a coalition partner in a diplomatic setting.
The Public Protector reaffirmed that political parties retain the constitutional right to articulate their positions, even within coalition governments, and that such political speech does not automatically amount to executive misconduct.
Parliament’s Ethics Committee has similarly dismissed a complaint against Steenhuisen, also lodged by the MK Party, that he abused his ministerial and parliamentary roles by promoting a party-political position.
In a finding issued in March, the committee said it lacked the jurisdiction to adjudicate the matter in terms of the Executive Members’ Act.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
