Ramaphosa reiterates non-relationship with alleged kingpin Maumela

President Cyril Ramaphosa has gone further to explain his relationship with Hangwani Maumela, the alleged kingpin behind the looting of Tembisa Hospital. Ramaphosa was answering questions in the National Council of Provinces.

He says that while he does not know Maumela, he met him on two occasions last year while taking a walk in the neighbourhood in Sandton, where they both live.

He refers to the incident, which his spokesperson Vincent Magwenya referred to on Monday, where a picture of the president and three other men outside Maumela’s house was circulating on social media.

Ramaphosa says he just happened to walk past Maumela’s house.

“I know his mother because we were at school together, so he says, my mother is here.  Can you say hello to her?  And she’s coming out of the yard towards the main gate.  And she’s wearing a gown, a morning gown, and I immediately say, I can’t allow her to come into the street with a morning gown. And I go towards the gate, and I greet her, and I say, ‘How are you?’  ‘How have you been? – That’s the sum total of it all.  And I walk away.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s response to oral questions in the National Council of Provinces