The South African presidency has moved swiftly to refute allegations suggesting a connection between President Cyril Ramaphosa and businessman Hangwani Maumela, who has recently found himself at the centre of a tender rigging investigation involving the Tembisa Hospital. This strong denial follows the emergence of a video capturing Ramaphosa greeting onlookers outside what is now identified as Maumela’s home in Johannesburg.
In a media briefing on Monday, presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya stated that the encounter was coincidental. He explained that the footage of Ramaphosa outside Maumela’s residence was filmed in 2023, when the president was unaware to whom the house belonged at the time. “Indeed, you see the President in front of Maumela’s house, but they were not visiting the house or coming out of that house. It just so happened that Thibautache [a bystander] stopped his car to greet the President as he was walking past what we now know as Maumela’s house,” Magwenya clarified.
Highlighting the geographical context, Magwenya elaborated on the frequency with which Ramaphosa passes by the address. “The other dynamic about this street, in particular, is that it’s a street that the President uses regularly when he takes walks or drives past,” he said. The proximity of Maumela’s residence, located less than a kilometre from Ramaphosa’s Hyde Park home, plays a significant role in the president’s route decisions. “Naturally, he’ll drive past this house because the street is not too far from his home,” Magwenya added.
Furthermore, Magwenya sought to dispel rumours alleging that Ramaphosa maintains a close relationship with Maumela or visits his home regularly. He asserted that, given the president’s hectic schedule, only a select few individuals are granted access to see him weekly—these include immediate family, his security detail, his Union Buildings staff, and ANC officials who convene every Monday. “The President maintains that he has no personal relationship with Maumela,” he stated, dismissing any further associations that stem from a distant family connection made years ago.
These statements from the presidency come in the wake of heightened scrutiny as the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) launched a raid on Maumela’s residence last Thursday. During the raid, authorities seized luxury cars and items valued at an estimated R300 million, conducting a broader investigation into a syndicate allegedly involved in the rigging of Tembisa Hospital tenders.
Despite the clarifications provided by Magwenya, the narrative continues to oscillate in media circles, with some critics maintaining that the connections between Ramaphosa and Maumela warrant further examination. The presidency is keen to label these insinuations as a “desperate attempt from some quarters of the media and others on social media to continue perpetuating this falsehood.”