President Cyril Ramaphosa clarifies link to Hangwani Maumela

Katlego Sekhu

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President Cyril Ramaphosa has denied claims that he is related to alleged tender fraudster Hangwani Maumela.
The Presidency clarified that Ramaphosa and Maumela are not family.
Ramaphosa explained that his only interaction with Maumela was a brief greeting to his mother.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has dismissed claims that he is related to Hangwani Maumela, the businessman accused of involvement in a R2 billion tender fraud linked to Tembisa Hospital.

Reports had suggested that Maumela was the President’s nephew, but the Presidency has clarified that this is untrue.

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, explained that the only connection is that the President was once married to Maumela’s aunt many years ago.

Addressing a recent video circulating on social media, President Ramaphosa also clarified the nature of his brief encounter with Maumela. He explained that he had entered the Maumela household only to greet Maumela’s mother, a woman he knew from school during the time he was married to his ex-wife.

“My daughter and I were walking, and this young man came out and said, ‘Hello Morama, my mother is here, can you say hello to her?’ I asked, ‘Who is she?’ and he said, ‘It’s Moneni M.’ When I was at school with my then wife, I knew his mother, as we were classmates,” Ramaphosa said.

“So, as she was coming out of the yard towards the gate wearing a morning gown, I said, ‘I can’t allow her to come into the street like that.’ I went towards the gate, greeted her, and asked how she was. That’s the sum total of the encounter,” he added.