Ramaphosa fights back

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa asked the High Court to halt a parliamentary inquiry into whether he should be impeached over his handling of a robbery at his wildlife ranch.

The application, filed on Friday, seeks to interdict lawmakers from probing his fitness to hold office until a separate court challenge that the president instituted last month is concluded.

The latter case aims at having the findings of a panel that investigated his conduct set aside and will be heard by the High Court from 2-4 September.

The saga stems from the 2020 theft of foreign currency hidden inside a sofa at Ramaphosa’s game farm. He has faced allegations that he concealed the crime and may have breached anti-corruption and foreign-exchange rules. 

A panel, chaired by former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, concluded in 2022 that there was prima facie evidence that Ramaphosa may have committed serious violations of the Constitution and the law.

Those findings precipitated the parliamentary inquiry, but don’t amount to a determination of guilt.

Ramaphosa said the panel’s report was based on hearsay evidence and didn’t follow proper procedures. He has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, and separate investigations by the nation’s tax agency and central bank found that he hadn’t broken any laws.

“I have, from the outset, consistently maintained that the panel materially misdirected itself in the discharge of its functions, misconstrued the information before it, and arrived at conclusions that are reviewable in law,” Ramaphosa said in his latest court filing.

“The purpose of this application is to preserve the status quo and protect the integrity of the pending review proceedings.”

Parliament hasn’t stated whether it will oppose Ramaphosa’s application to have the panel’s report set aside. It has been pressing ahead with its own inquiry, and last month appointed a panel to oversee the process. 

Ramaphosa, who took office eight years ago, is unlikely to be removed from office because he retains strong backing from within the African National Congress, the country’s biggest political party.

The ongoing saga has nonetheless damaged his reputation and risks undermining support for the ANC ahead of municipal elections in November.