Phala Phala: ATM goes to court to have Parliament’s open vote declared invalid

The African Transformation Movement (ATM) is challenging Parliament’s decision not to adopt the Phala Phala report.

President Cyril Ramaphosa was saved by ANC members after more than 200 MPs voted against the adoption of the Section 89 report last week Tuesday.

ALSO READ: ‘ANC’s interests come first’: Ruling party slammed for protecting Ramaphosa in Phala Phala vote

The result meant that the president won’t face impeachment proceedings.

Parliament voted on the Phala Phala via a roll call procedure following National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s decision to deny the ATM’s request to allow a secret ballot vote.

The party’s attempts for the secret ballot were rejected twice by the Speaker.

Court application

ATM president Vuyo Zungula has since approached the Western Cape High Court with an urgent application seeking to have Mapisa-Nqakula’s decision reviewed and declared invalid.

“[The ATM submits that] the decision of the first respondent rejecting the applicant’s request for a closed ballot procedure in respect of the National Assembly’s proceedings in terms of rule 129I of the impeachment rules is reviewed and set aside and declared unconstitutional and invalid,” he said in his court application.

Zungula has also asked the High Court to set aside Parliament’s voting outcome of 13 December.

READ MORE: ‘Their blood will be in your hands’ – Mente tells Mapisa-Nqakula in debate over secret ballot

“The proceedings of the National Assembly, pursuant to the rule 129I impeachment rules on 13 December 2022, at the fourth session of the sixth Parliament, are reviewed and set aside and are invalid.

“It declared that the voting procedure to be followed by the Assembly in conducting the rule 1291 impeachment proceedings, is a closed ballot procedure,” the paper further reads.

Ramaphosa came under fire recently after the Section 89 panel found that the president had a case to answer regarding the burglary at his Phala Phala farm in Limpopo.

The president may have violated the Constitution and anti-corruption laws, according to the panel.

Review application

Meanwhile, the ATM, which initially filed the Section 89 motion in Parliament, are also opposing Ramaphosa’s court application.

The president has asked the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) to review and set aside the Phala Phala report.

But Zungula believes that Ramaphosa has made no case for dismissing Section 89 report.

READ MORE: Ramaphosa’s ConCourt bid ‘not about avoiding accountability’

The ATM leader argued in the party court papers that the panel’s report was not reviewable because such reports were merely just recommendations, adding that the president’s application did not engage the exclusive jurisdiction of the ConCourt.

“The relief sought by the president in this application impedes Parliament [from] exercising its constitutional functions.

“The president asks this court to set aside a report before Parliament has had an opportunity to consider, deliberate and vote on whether the report should be accepted or rejected. This self-evidently undermines the work of Parliament, and in turn, the separation of powers,” the papers reads.