Ramaphosa filed an urgent application to halt the Section 89 impeachment proceedings pending the review of the Section 89 Independent Panel report.
President Cyril Ramaphosa. Picture: Gallo Images/Jeffrey Abrahams
Judgment on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s urgent application to halt the Impeachment Committee will be delivered this week.
The Western Cape High Court in Cape Town will deliver its ruling at 10am on Friday, 24 July 2026. The urgent interdict, heard over two days, was heard by a full bench of the court.
Urgent application
Ramaphosa filed an urgent application to halt the Section 89 impeachment proceedings pending the review of the Section 89 Independent Panel report.
This, after the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) ruled in May that the Section 89 panel’s report on the Phala Phala scandal be sent back to parliament, paving the way for an impeachment process against Ramaphosa to proceed.
Independent panel
In November 2022, an independent panel appointed by then-National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula found that there was “prima facie” evidence that Ramaphosa may have violated sections 96(2)(a) of the constitution and 34(1) of PRECCA, with the aim of keeping the investigation of the burglary private.
The panel, led by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, was tasked with investigating whether the president committed an impeachable offence related to the burglary at his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo in February 2020.
Ramaphosa has taken this report on review, and the hearing is set for 2 to 4 September.
Impeachment committee
Meanwhile, Parliament’s Impeachment Committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, as it awaits the judgment from the Western Cape High Court on Ramaphosa’s bid to halt the work of the committee.
Chairperson of the Impeachment Committee, Makashule Gana, explained that until a court orders otherwise, the committee will continue its work.
“What’s also encouraging, at least for me as the chairperson, is the final inputs by the president’s council that indicate that the work of the committee so far is the preparatory work.
“So, the appointment of the evidence leaders, the preparation of the witnesses, the finalisation of the terms of reference, and all the work they are not seeking to interdict. But in any case, we’re not going to stop until the court has made a determination,” Gana said.
Rules
Last month, the National Assembly adopted amended rules that will govern the work of the 31-member impeachment committee investigating allegations against Ramaphosa over the 2020 theft of foreign currency from his Phala Phala game farm.
The move paved the way for the committee to begin its work, despite Ramaphosa’s urgent court bid to halt the process pending a review of an independent Section 89 panel report that found he may have breached the constitution.
