The Western Cape High Court is expected to deliver judgment on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s urgent application to temporarily suspend Parliament’s Section 89 Impeachment Committee while he pursues a review of the independent panel’s findings on the Phala Phala matter.
Ramaphosa is seeking an order to halt the committee’s work for at least three months pending the outcome of his application to review the Section 89 Independent Panel report. The panel previously concluded that there was sufficient evidence to suggest the President had a case to answer regarding the theft of foreign currency from his Phala Phala game farm.
The Section 89 Impeachment Committee was established after the Constitutional Court ruled in May that the National Assembly had acted irrationally when it voted against adopting the panel’s report. The court ordered Parliament to institute impeachment proceedings against the President.
The application was argued before a full bench of the Western Cape High Court over two days last week, with the court now set to determine whether the committee’s work should be paused while the review process unfolds.
Political analyst Professor Zwelinzima Ndevu says the ruling will provide much-needed legal certainty for both the President and the impeachment committee.
Ndevu says the judgment will clarify whether Ramaphosa is entitled to seek a review of aspects of the independent panel’s findings and whether the committee can continue its work while that process is underway. He adds that the outcome will also help define the committee’s mandate, ensuring it proceeds with confidence that it is acting within the scope of its constitutional responsibilities.