The Constitutional Court has found that President Cyril Ramaphosa neither wilfully mislead Parliament about a R500 000 donation from Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson, nor did he personally benefit from donations made to his CR17 campaign for the ANC presidency.

In 2018, then DA leader Mmusi Maimane asked Ramaphosa if Watson had paid his son Andile R500 000 for consultancy services. Ramaphosa confirmed the payment but corrected his statement days later and said the money was a donation to his CR17 campaign. 

After an investigation, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane found that Ramaphosa misled Parliament when he answered questions about a R500 000 donation from Watson and that he had a duty to disclose donations his campaign received.

However, in a judgment on Thursday morning, the Constitutional Court found that the evidence before the Public Protector did not establish wilfulness. Instead, Mkhwebane changed the executive ethics code to align with her findings.

“Therefore, the Public Protector was wrong on the facts and the law with regards to the issue whether the president had wilfully misled parliament and the High Court was right to set aside her finding,” Justice Chris Jafta read.

The apex court also found that, on the evidence, Ramaphosa did not personally benefit from the donations made to the CR17 campaign. 

Jafta said that, more importantly, that the Public Protector did not have the authority to investigate this because it did not form part of the complaints received.