EFF fails in court bid to have Ramaphosa’s CR17 bank records unsealed

The party had approached the court to reveal all those who donated to the president’s campaign for the African National Congress (ANC) presidency in 2017.

The High Court in Pretoria has dismissed the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)’s application to have bank records of Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidential campaign unsealed.

The party applied to the court to have a directive that was made by Gauteng Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba reversed.

The party’s lawyers argued that the principle of open justice required that the full court record should be made available to the public.

The bank statements were submitted to the court as part of a different matter where Ramaphosa was challenging the Public Protector’s adverse finding on the CR17 campaign.

The Constitutional Court has since ruled she had no scope to do so.

Ramaphosa’s lawyers maintained that the bank statements were private as they were never before an open court.