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The review application is expected to be heard in September, meaning the impeachment process will remain on hold until the court reaches a decision.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has secured a temporary legal reprieve after the Western Cape High Court ordered Parliament to suspend impeachment proceedings linked to the controversial Phala Phala farm cash scandal.
The court on Friday granted an interim order preventing Parliament’s Section 89 impeachment committee from continuing its public hearings while it considers Ramaphosa’s application to review the findings of an independent panel that recommended further investigation into his conduct.
The review application is expected to be heard in September, meaning the impeachment process will remain on hold until the court reaches a decision.
The impeachment inquiry stems from the 2020 theft of about $580,000 hidden inside a sofa at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm. The President has maintained that the money came from the legitimate sale of buffaloes and has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
The parliamentary process was revived after South Africa’s Constitutional Court ruled earlier this year that Parliament had acted unlawfully when it abandoned impeachment proceedings in 2022 following the release of an independent panel’s report. That panel concluded there was prima facie evidence suggesting Ramaphosa may have committed serious violations of the Constitution or the law, prompting Parliament to reopen the matter.
In Friday’s ruling, a majority of the three-judge bench found that Ramaphosa had met the legal requirements for interim relief, although one judge dissented and argued that the application should have been dismissed. The court ordered that the impeachment committee should not proceed until the legality of the panel’s report has been determined.
Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said Ramaphosa respected the court’s decision and remained committed to the legal process.
The ruling does not terminate the impeachment proceedings but merely pauses them pending the outcome of the judicial review. Political analysts say Ramaphosa is still unlikely to be removed from office because his governing African National Congress retains sufficient parliamentary support to defeat any eventual impeachment motion.
