‘It’s an important accountability process’ – Calls for Phala Phala report to be made public

It’s D-Day for President Cyril Ramaphosa as Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula today gets the formal report on the burglary at his Phala Phala game farm – a report set to determine his fate.

Opposition parties will push for an ad hoc committee to probe the matter further, should the Section 89 independent panel find there’s no prima facie evidence, or recommend no further action against Ramaphosa – and experts say in a the constitutional democracy, the president must be held accountable.

Section 9 never been used before

“It’s an important accountability process. The constitutional provision [Section 89] has never been used before,” political analyst Mpumelelo Mkhabela said.

“Although the process to hold a president to account was developed as a result of former president Jacob Zuma’s violation of the constitution, it’s only now, under Ramaphosa, that we are seeing it being implemented to see whether the president has violated the constitution, or other law.”

Mkhabela said although there was no constitutional provision to “suspend” the president, based on the outcome “if parliament lacks confidence in him, it can vote him out”.

“If parliament wants to test if he committed a serious violation, it can initiate a Section 89 process – as it has happened.

“And if the Section 89 panel believes he has a case to answer to, parliament will convene an impeachment committee and put him on ‘trial’ before they vote.”

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The Section 89 motion was proposed in August by the African Transformation Movement’s Vuyo Zungula and directs parliament to convene a panel of experts to assess whether sufficient evidence exists to show Ramaphosa committed any of the violations specified in the motion.

The Democratic Alliance’s Solly Malatsi said the party was looking forward to the report. Its findings “will determine our next course of action”. Malatsi said in the interest of openness and transparency, the report should be made public.

“Parliament shouldn’t hide its business from the public and we will see what our parliament’s position on this report is. But our consistent view on the work of parliament is they should be as transparent as humanly possible.”

Mkhabela agreed the report must be made public.

“It’s impossible to conceal it because of overwhelming public interest. In addition, the opposition parties whose complaint triggered the establishment of the Section 89 process and others who gave evidence in support or against the complaint, deserve immediate access to the report,” he said.

“With many hands on it, it will definitely become public quickly. Already, the chair of the panel has mentioned the importance of transparency.”

Ramaphosa ‘didn’t take anyone’s money’

Public Interest SA’s Tebogo Khaas said he was “disappointed” with SA politicians who have chosen to focus on Phala Phala, rather than engaging on the country’s bigger problems, such as the energy crisis, crime and unemployment.

ALSO READ: Phala Phala saga turning public opinion against Ramaphosa

“Quite honestly, there’s nothing in this whole thing. The president hasn’t taken anybody else’s money,” he said.

“The president hasn’t caused such a loss or hasn’t transgress the loss to the extent that it needs resources for such as inquiry as parliament has already done, and waste money and the courts’ and judges’ time.

“It is just a diversion that detracts from the kind of things we ought to be focusing on.”

– reitumetsem@citizen.co.za