While the Public Protector's report on Phala Phala may appear to absolve President Cyril Ramaphosa, he may never be completely free of the 'cash in sofa' taint.

The findings of Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka that President Cyril Ramaphosa has no case to answer for his role in the Phala Phala scandal does not appear to leave him blame-free. The entire sordid affair, apart from being far from over, leaves a bitter taste and still has the potential to further weaken, and even define, his Presidency. (That last point is particularly poignant in the absence of any great achievements for him to point to.)

Phala Phala is also likely to lead to much more difficult politics, still producing acres of muddy space where political players will keep trading accusations and insults, even as they are unable to prove they are clean themselves.

There can be no doubt as to the political power of the Phala Phala scandal, which for a period of several days in December threatened to end Ramaphosa's presidency. After all, this is a scandal about a business owned by our head of state who claimed he received foreign cash from a foreign business person and had a worker stash it in a couch - and that was considered the least bad option at that moment.

While Ramaphosa has been cleared by the acting Public...