沙发藏百万美元 南非总统深陷腐败丑闻

South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is clinging on to his political life and the party of Nelson Mandela, the ruling African National Congress, in a crisis mode.

南非总统西里尔·拉马福萨在危机中紧握着自己的政治生命不放，紧握着执政党非洲人国民大会不放，非国大是纳尔逊·曼德拉曾经的政党。

Ramaphosa is facing calls to resign and possible impeachment proceedings after an independent panel appointed by Parliament alleged that he broke anti-corruption laws and violated the Constitution.

拉马福萨面临着下台的呼声，也面临着可能的弹劾程序，此前议会任命的一个独立委员会指控他违反了反贪腐法，也违反了宪法。

How he got here is this very convoluted story.

关于他是如何走到这个地步的故事非常复杂。

It involves the allegations of a former spy, tales of a sofa stuffed with cash and the failure to declare the existence and subsequent theft of potentially millions of dollars.

这个故事涉及到一名前间谍的指控，一个塞满现金的沙发，没有申报可能高达数百万美元的资金，以及这些资金在随后被盗取。

To unravel this tale, we are joined by Kate Bartlett in Johannesburg. Hey, Kate.

为了弄清这个故事，我们请到了约翰内斯堡的凯特·巴特利特。嗨, 凯特。

Good morning, Rachel.

早上好，瑞秋。

OK. So one of the headlines in a South African newspaper this morning says the following - "The End Of A Presidency."

好。今天早上南非一家报纸的头条是这样写的: “总统任期的终结。”

How did we get here?

我们对此了解多少？

Well, we'll see whether it's the end of a presidency very soon.

嗯，我们很快就会看到这是否是总统任期的终结。

Yesterday, it was reported Ramaphosa was willing and planning to resign.

昨天，有报道称拉马福萨愿意辞职，也正在计划辞职。

Today, he's apparently been convinced by his allies in the ANC to stay on and fight.

今天，他显然已被非国大的盟友说服，他将继续留任并继续战斗。

This is a developing story and moving fast.

这是一个发展中的故事，且事态发展迅速。

A little bit of background about Ramaphosa - he was elected in 2018 on an anti-corruption platform after nine turbulent years of his predecessor, Jacob Zuma, who was dogged by corruption allegations and scandal after scandal.

简单介绍一下拉马福萨的背景——拉马福萨的前任，即总统雅各布·祖玛被腐败指控和一件件丑闻所困扰，经历了动荡的9年，此后，也就是2018年，拉马福萨凭借反腐平台当选南非总统。

And, you know, many South Africans were delighted when Ramaphosa replaced Zuma, as he was seen to be clean. And he spoke of a new dawn.

当拉马福萨取代祖马时，许多南非人感到很高兴，因为他被认为是清廉的。他谈及了一个新的黎明。

But since then, critics say he's been slow to act against the rot in his party, though to give him due credit, in recent months there have been arrests and court cases involving high-level people fingered in corruption cases.

但自那以后，批评人士称，他在打击党内腐败方面行动迟缓。不过，值得肯定的是，近几个月来，有一些高层人士被指卷入腐败案件，遭到逮捕并接受法庭审理。

But now this scandal over a large, undisclosed amount of cash inexplicably found stuffed in his sofa...

但现在，他的沙发里莫名其妙地发现了一大笔未披露的现金。

Oh, so it's his sofa that's stuffed with the cash?

哦，这么说塞满现金的是他的沙发咯?

It was his sofa at his game farm. Yes.

那是他在农场的沙发。是的。

And so what's the story of that? Yeah.

那是怎么回事呢?

Yeah. So basically, there was a robbery in 2020, and the robbers took an undisclosed amount of cash - could be millions.

大体上是这样的，2020年发生了一起抢劫案，劫匪拿走了数额不详的现金，可能有数百万美元。

It's all very murky, the details - from the sofa.

一切都很模糊，沙发事件的细节也很模糊。

But we only found out about this two years later, a few months ago, when the country's former spy chief went and told the police about it.

但直到两年后，也就是几个月前，我们才发现这件事，当时该国的前情报局长向警方告发了这件事。

Now, the president, who is a keen breeder of prize buffalo, says the cash is from a sale of one of his animals, and he denies any wrongdoing.

现在，这位热心饲养优质水牛的总统表示，这笔现金来自售出的一头水牛，他否认有任何不当行为。

Wow. So just walk us through what we expect to happen in the next few days.

哇。跟我们详细说说接下来几天会发生什么吧。

Well, if Ramaphosa doesn't resign on his own accord over the next few days, there'll be a debate in Parliament next Tuesday during which legislatures could vote for his impeachment.

嗯，如果拉马福萨在接下来的几天内不主动辞职，下周二将在议会举行辩论，届时立法机构将投票支持弹劾他。