"I've never stolen money from anywhere" Ramaphosa breaks silence

It appears the response from the presidency last week was not enough as South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has made a strong defence of his integrity after allegations of kidnapping and bribery were levelled against him.

former spy chief Arthur Fraser said the case related to the alleged attempted theft of $4m (£3.2m) in 2020 at one of the president's properties and the alleged efforts to conceal what happened, a statement unavailable to the AFP.

In a Twitter response, Mr Ramaphosa's office confirmed that there was a robbery at the farm "in which proceeds from the sale of the game were stolen".

Talking to supporters at the weekend, Mr Ramaphosa explained that as a farmer he frequently bought and sold cattle and people often paid in cash. In addition, he denied that the amount stolen was anywhere near $4m.

"All this was money from proceeds from selling animals... I have never stolen money from anywhere... and will never do so."

Mr Ramaphosa replaced Jacob Zuma as the country's head of state in 2018 after Zuma was forced to step down amid corruption allegations.

The president has made combatting corruption a priority of his government. However, his commitment to this has been marred by corruption allegations following the embezzlement of funds meant for fighting covid 19.