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Phala Phala farm saga coming back to haunt Ramaphosa?
The Phala Phala farm burglary scandal could be revived in Parliament.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s controversial Phala Phala farm scandal appears poised to come back to haunt him.
Some parties have threatened to revive the Phala Phala saga in Parliament after the African National Congress (ANC) failed to secure an outright majority in the 2024 general election.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) declared the final national and provincial elections results on Sunday, with the seventh Parliament now expected to be constituted in the next 14 days.
Ramaphosa could face a Section 89 inquiry for his removal should he return to office following the first sitting of the National Assembly, which will elect the new president.
EFF’s Phala Phala litigation
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is challenging the National Assembly’s decision not to adopt a Section 89 panel report.
The report found that Ramaphosa may have a case to answer over the theft of $580 000 at his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo on 9 February 2020.
However, the National Assembly, in December 2022, decided to reject the motion to refer the panel’s report to an impeachment committee.
The vote was conducted through a roll call and the majority of ANC members heeded the party’s instructions not to support the report.
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The National Assembly also voted against the establishment of an ad-hoc committee to investigate the saga in March 2023.
The EFF then opted to approach the Constitutional Court (ConCourt), which is set to hear the matter.
On Monday, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo issued directives to the EFF, asking the party to file its arguments before 19 July.
The respondents, which include Ramaphosa and former National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, were given until 26 July to respond to the EFF’s court challenge.
The EFF’s application will be heard “in due course”, according to the ConCourt’s directives.
In its court papers filed in February this year, the EFF argued that ANC abused its majority in Parliament to bury the scathing Phala Phala report at the time.
The Red Berets have requested that the National Assembly’s decision be declared irrational and unlawful.
Ramaphosa decided to take the legal route over the Section 89 panel report, but dropped his review application because the matter was “moot”.
The ConCourt previously rebuffed Ramaphosa’s application, saying “no case has been made out for exclusive jurisdiction or direct access” and referred the president to a lower court instead.
ATM challenges Phala Phala report
Meanwhile, the Public Protector’s report on Phala Phala is also being challenged in the Pretoria High Court by the African Transformation Movement (ATM).
ATM leader, Vuyo Zungula, filed an application with the high court to review findings by Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka on Phala Phala in July 2023.
This is after Gcaleka found that the allegations accusing Ramaphosa of acting in a manner inconsistent with his office in his response to the burglary at his farm could not be substantiated, and cleared the president of any wrongdoing.
According to BusinessDay, Ramaphosa submitted his affidavit in response to ATM’s litigation in February this year.
Revival in Parliament?
But Freedom Front Pluss (FF+) has vowed to reintroduce the Phala Phala issue in the National Assembly despite other investigations, including the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) probe, exonerating the president.
“We would have to see what the new Parliament’s appetite for this would be,” FF+ chief whip, Corné Mulder said in an interview with SAFM on Monday.
“It will be a completely different situation if Parliament has a relook at that report, adopts it and sends it in a different direction altogether,” Mulder added.
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