<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">South African president Cyril Ramaphosa is facing a possible impeachment threat over the "Farmgate" scandal.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The president has been accused of covering up a $4m (£3.3m) theft from his farm in 2020, including kidnapping and bribing the burglars into silence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A leaked report from an independent panel has found that Mr Ramaphosa abused his position and may have broken an anti-corruption law.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He has denied wrongdoing, and said the money was from selling buffalo.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The panel's findings have been handed to parliament, which is set to examine them and decide whether or not to launch impeachment proceedings next week.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Ramaphosa is less than a month away from a conference which will decide if he can run for a second term with his party, the African National Congress (ANC), in 2024. The incident could be particularly damaging as Mr Ramaphosa ran for office on an anti-corruption ticket.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The ANC will hold a meeting with its executive on Thursday, where it is expected that the issue will be discussed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Farmgate scandal erupted in June, when a former South African spy boss, Arthur Fraser, filed a complaint with police accusing the president of hiding a theft of $4m from his Phala Phala farm in the north-east of the country in 2020.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Fraser, who is a close ally of former President Jacob Zuma, alleged that the money could have been the proceeds of money-laundering and corruption, and accused the president of kidnapping and bribing the burglars.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Holding such a large amount of money in dollars could violate foreign exchange control laws.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Ramaphosa has confirmed a robbery, but said the amount stolen was less than that alleged, and denied attempting to cover it up.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some $580,000 which had been paid in cash for buffalo was stolen from under sofa cushions in the farmhouse, he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I did not 'hunt' for the perpetrators of the theft, as alleged, nor did I give any instructions for this to take place," he wrote in a submission to the panel's report, according to AFP news agency.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The panel concluded that there were many unanswered questions, calling it a "very serious matter".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Little information was kept about the man who supposedly paid the money for buffalo, it said, adding that he had still not collected the animals two and a half years later.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The panel also said it was strange that the money had been kept hidden in a sofa, rather than in a safe until it could be lodged in a bank account.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We think that the president has a case to answer on the origin of the foreign currency that was stolen, as well as the underlying transaction for it," the report said. It added: "The president abused his position as head of state to have the matter investigated and seeking the assistance of the Namibian president to apprehend a suspect."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Namibian president Hage Geingob has previously denied any involvement in the incident. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>