Ramaphosa is not going anywhere

President Cyril Ramaphosa said he would contest a report over his handling of a robbery at his farm after a court ruling resurrected the scandal, and rejected calls that he step down.

“I will not resign,” he said during a televised address on Monday. “To do so would be to give credence to a panel report that unfortunately has grave flaws.”

The May 8 ruling by the Constitutional Court found lawmakers erred four years ago when they failed to establish an impeachment committee to look into how Ramaphosa deal with the theft of foreign exchange hidden in a sofa on his game farm in 2020.

The panel’s report found that Ramaphosa’s handling of the burglary may have breached the constitution.

Speaker of parliament Thoko Didiza is now expected to begin the process of constituting an impeachment committee and establish its terms of reference.

The National Assembly’s rules committee will also meet to make changes prescribed by the Constitutional Court.

Parliament’s plans mean that Ramaphosa will have to move fast if he wants to have the panel’s report reviewed by another court, which could stall the work of the impeachment committee. 

The top decision-making body of the president’s African National Congress party will convene on Tuesday to discuss the court ruling, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified as the meeting hasn’t been announced yet.

Didiza is expected later this week to convene a Chief Whips’ Forum that will nominate members from various parties to make up the impeachment committee. 

The speaker of parliament must also consider calls by two political parties — the African Transformation Movement and former President Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party — to allow a motion of no confidence in Ramaphosa that they want held by secret ballot.

The two would have to enlist the support of most of the parties in the assembly to back them: together they hold less than 20% of the seats, while a no-confidence motion requires a simp