Court Halts Ramaphosa Impeachment Hearings

The Western Cape High Court has granted President Cyril Ramaphosa an interim interdict halting parliament’s impeachment inquiry pending a review application challenging the legality of an independent panel report. The court's decision temporarily pauses public hearings but allows preparatory work to continue.

According to multiple reports, the full bench ordered that parliament’s section 89 impeachment committee may not proceed with public hearings until Ramaphosa’s review application has been decided. This ruling is a significant development in the ongoing legal battle over parliament’s implementation of section 89 of the Constitution, which governs the removal of a president from office.

The impeachment process was triggered after an independent panel found prima facie evidence that Ramaphosa may have committed serious violations of the Constitution or the law. The inquiry stems from the Phala Phala saga, in which $538,000 (about R8.8m) was stolen from the president’s game farm in Limpopo in 2020.

Political parties have offered sharply different interpretations of the ruling. The ANC welcomed the judgment, saying it reaffirmed the constitutional right of every citizen to seek legal protection when they believed a public process was unlawful or procedurally unfair. The DA, however, said the judgment did not amount to an endorsement of Ramaphosa’s conduct or clear him of any wrongdoing linked to the Phala Phala scandal.

Ramaphosa has consistently denied wrongdoing and is challenging the panel’s report in court. Political analysts expect Ramaphosa to remain in power, even if the impeachment process does get off the ground and ultimately leads to a vote on whether he should be removed from office. The ANC holds about 40 percent of seats in the National Assembly, and it is not clear how all the ANC’s coalition partners would vote in the impeachment process.