The South African Parliament blocked the impeachment of President Ramaphosa. The president has received support from his party, the African National Congress (ANC), despite allegations of theft and corruption.

Last week it appeared that the African National Congress, which has a majority in parliament, Stand behind the president. Today, four members of his party voted to start impeachment proceedings, but it wasn’t enough for a majority. 214 deputies voted against impeachment, and 148 voted for it.

Two weeks ago, a parliamentary commission of inquiry published a report critical of Ramaphosa accusing him of stealing a large amount of money from his game farm. The president went to court last week to declare the report illegal.

The case, dubbed Farmgate, came to light last summer when a supporter of Jacob Zuma (Ramaphosa’s predecessor) said a large amount of money had gone missing from the president’s farm. It is said that the chief concealed this theft because he obtained the stolen money illegally.

Ramaphosa denies this and says he got $580,000 selling the buffaloes to a Sudanese businessman. Then he would hide the money in a sofa, where the thieves took it out a few weeks later.

The investigative committee says in the report that there is “great doubt” about that reading. He claims that Ramaphosa would have hidden the money to avoid questions about the origin of the amount. After the robbery, he allegedly kidnapped the robbers and paid hush money to cover it up.

ANC MPs said today that the report did not contain sufficient evidence to warrant impeachment.