Ramaphosa in hot water as cash-in-sofa scandal comes back to bite

South Africa’s top court faulted parliament’s decision to quash a report that fueled efforts to remove President Cyril Ramaphosa from office over his handling of a burglary at his game farm.

The National Assembly “rule is inconsistent with the Constitution, invalid and it is set aside,” Constitutional Court Judge Mandisa Maya said in a judgment delivered in Johannesburg on Friday.

The rand retraced some of its earlier gains after the ruling to trade 0.2% stronger at R16.44 per dollar by 10:44 a.m. in Johannesburg.

The ruling potentially reopens scrutiny of Ramaphosa’s conduct in the so-called cash-in-sofa scandal as well as the possibility of another impeachment inquiry. 

It also risks destabilizing the fractious coalition government formed after elections in 2024 in which the African National Congress lost its outright parliamentary majority.

With the ANC no longer in command of the legislature, it would have to rely on support from other blocs — including coalition partners — to shield Ramaphosa.

The cash-in-sofa scandal erupted in 2022, when the country’s former chief spy laid charges against Ramaphosa alleging that he tried to cover up the theft two years earlier of at least $4 million from Phala Phala — his game farm in the northern Limpopo province.

Ramaphosa denied any wrongdoing. It later emerged that about $580,000 was stolen.

A report compiled by an advisory panel found in November 2022 that Ramaphosa may have breached the constitution in his handling of the theft.

Ramaphosa considered resigning over the findings, before being persuaded by his allies to stay. The report was later rejected by parliament.

The case at the Constitutional Court was brought by the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters and the African Transformation Movement.

Friday’s ruling comes six months before the country holds municipal elections and about a year before Ramaphosa’s term as ANC president ends.