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MPs at a special sitting of South Africa’s parliament voted to reject a move to begin impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The president was accused of covering up the theft of a large sum of foreign currency from his farm in 2020, some of which had been hidden in a sofa.
The debate before the vote focussed on an independent report which concluded he may have violated the constitution.
Mr Ramaphosa, who is up for re-election as ANC leader, denies any wrongdoing.
The African National Congress had told its MPs to block a possible impeachment – although four members broke ranks and sided with opposition parties to accept the report and let impeachment proceedings start.
Among them was past presidential hopeful Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Now that Mr Ramaphosa has survived the vote, he is thought likely to win re-election at his party’s conference, which starts on Friday. He will then be in pole position to become the ANC’s presidential candidate at the next election in 2024.