Ramaphosa 'weaponised the judicial system to cling to political power' in legal review of Phala Phala report
President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced his intentions to take the Section 89 Independent Panel report on review.
Image: File
In a significant move, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Monday night his intention to challenge the Section 89 Independent Panel report through legal means.
The panel report findings stem from a 2020 burglary at his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo, where over $500,000 in cash was stolen from a couch.
This was after the Constitutional Court ruled that Parliament acted unlawfully, irrationally, and unconstitutionally when it voted in December 2022 to reject the panel report.
The court found that Parliament's handling of the process failed the constitutional test due to a material error of law and that it prioritised political clout over its oversight duties.
The court ordered that the Section 89 Independent Panel report be immediately referred to an Impeachment Committee.
Ramaphosa on Monday night maintained that he had not stolen any public money, committed any crime or violated my oath of office.
His announcement came ahead of an expected meeting of the ANC’s National Executive Committee, which is expected to rally around the party leader.
Ramaphosa’s remarks come after the Parliament Speaker, Thoko Didiza, earlier on Monday announced six key procedural steps to enforce the ConCourt ruling.
Political analyst Kim Heller said Ramaphosa’s speech was a 'masterful delay and evasion tactic'.
“He has weaponised the judicial system to cling to his political power,” she said.
Legal expert Advocate Zwelethu Mighty Madasa said Ramaphosa has a right to ask the court to review the panel’s findings as the Concourt was not called upon to rule on the merits of the Independent Panel’s findings.
Madasa said this will have the effect of suspending the referral of the report by the speaker to the Impeachment Committee, pending the outcome of the review.
Another legal expert, Professor Andre Thomashausen said Ramaphosa showed 'great statesmanship in resisting the temptation to withdraw into the comforts of early retirement', adding that he did not abandon the vast numbers of South Africans who wish him to continue the long process of unmasking systemic corruption and restoring the pride of a nation.
Meanwhile, the DA said Ramaphosa’s decision to take the Section 89 Panel report on review must not be used to delay the work of Parliament.
The party’s leader Geordin Hill-Lewis added that Ramaphosa should bring any review application with due haste and on an expedited basis, so that the legal position is clarified quickly and this matter is not delayed unnecessarily.
“Parliament must also now take urgent legal advice on the implications of the President’s incoming review, including whether it affects the establishment and work of the impeachment committee, or whether the committee may proceed while the review is underway,” he said.
The legal challenge to revive the impeachment process was brought by the opposition party, the EFF and ATM.
Following the judgment, the EFF and ATM, who filed the application, demanded his immediate resignation.
The parties argued that the President cannot effectively run the country while undergoing an impeachment process.
However, in his address to the nation on Monday night, Ramaphosa announced that he would not resign, but instead, decided to approach the courts to take the report of the independent panel for review.
He said he was advised by his legal team that the panel report was capable of being reviewed by a court of law on several grounds, including the misconception of its mandate, grave errors of law, and unfounded conclusions of fact.