The Constitutional Court has ruled in favour of the EFF and has found that independent panel report on Phala Phala must be referred to an impeachment committee.
Image: GCIS
President Cyril Ramaphosa will have to face an impeachment committee in connection with the Phala Phala scandal, the Constitutional Court has ruled.
The court, in a majority judgment, found that the National Assembly vote in December 2022 against adopting a Section 89 panel report on the Phala Phala matter was in inconsistent with the Constitution, invalid and must be set aside. The court further directed that the panel report must be referred to an impeachment committee established by National Assembly Rules.
The case was brought by the EFF and the African Transformation Movement (ATM) in November 2024.
The National Assembly had voted against adopting the report despite the panel, led by retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, finding that there was prima facie evidence that Ramaphosa may have committed serious violations of the Constitution and the law, justifying an impeachment inquiry.
The matter relates to the alleged cover-up following a burglary at Ramaphosa's Phala Phala farm in 2020 in which approximately US $580 000) was stolen. The money was reportedly hidden in a couch.
Handing down judgment in the matter on Friday, Chief Justice Mandisa Maya said there were three judgments in the matter indicating that there were differences in legal opinion among the justices.
However Justice Maya said the majority ruling finds that the vote was inconsistent with the constitution and further that the rule 129 (i) that allowed for the National Assembly to vote on the matter and effectively terminate the process before it could begin was also inconsistent with the Constitution and invalid..
“Legally the vote and the rule are on the same Constitutional footing and the one must follow the other. The vote was influenced by a material error of the law, it is therefore inconsistent with the Constitution and must accordingly fall.”
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