How Ramaphosa’s impeachment process could take two years — or more

In a narrow 14 to 13 vote, Parliament’s impeachment committee on Wednesday decided to appeal against the interdict that effectively stopped public impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa in connection with the Phala Phala theft of forex stashed in sofa cushions. It’s a preview of what lies ahead – if public proceedings should ever happen.

Grinding discussions in Parliament’s impeachment committee on Wednesday, 29 July, saw opposition parties criticise the ANC for delaying tactics, meaning important decisions such as appointing evidence leaders and finalising terms of reference for the impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa were left hanging.

Next week, MPs will have another go, alongside discussing parliamentary legal advice on whether the President can be compelled to testify himself and whether adverse inference can be drawn if he chooses not to.

Instead, 90 minutes were spent on arguing whether the authors of the Section 89 independent panel report that found the President had a case to answer over Phala Phala must brief MPs – despite parliamentary legal advice, and precedent – as ANC MPs argued that the Section 89 panel report was not the “gospel truth”.

Yet parliamentary legal advice was clear: the panel ceased to exist once it handed over its report to the National Assembly speaker at the end of November 2022. The report was Parliament’s and the impeachment committee’s, following its referral to MPs after the May 2026 Constitutional Court judgment.