Independent panel will be given a month to investigate Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala saga

Parliament has confirmed that the panel set up to investigate President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm robbery will be given a month to complete its work.

National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula revealed this during the Programme Committee meeting on Thursday.

Earlier this month, the speaker accepted a request by the African Transformation Movement (ATM) for a Section 89 inquiry to be established against Ramaphosa.

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As a result, this meant that an independent panel will decide whether the president will be subject to a process that may lead to his removal from office.

Section 89 of the Constitution provides for the National Assembly to remove a president of the Republic from office on the grounds of either, serious violation of the Constitution or the law, serious misconduct or an inability to perform the functions of office, while Rule 129A-Q of the National Assembly Rules governs the process of the removal of the president. 

Name submissions

During Thursday’s proceedings, Mapisa-Nqakula said political parties had until 1 September, to submit names of people who will serve on the panel, which must consist of three people, who may include a judge.

“Once the panel has been announced and appointed, that panel will have 30 days to do its work and present a recommendation to my office. We have up to the 1st [of September] to make submissions.

“On 2nd [of September], we may be announcing the panel, and they will start their work. [The panel] has exactly 30 days from the date of the announcement,” she said.

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Expanding on the matter further, National Assembly secretary Masibulele Xaso said: “Once the speaker has received all the names, which will be more than three names, the speaker has then to select the three [names] out of the many names that have been submitted.

“From there, we must establish the availability of the selected names. It could very well happen that a particular name is not available, then we need to go to the next name. We will try and speed up that process and finalise procurement issues.”

Last week, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema confirmed that the opposition would submit the names of former judges Mogoeng Mogoeng, Dikgang Moseneke, Bernard Ngoepe, and Yvonne Mokgoro to sit in the panel.

No motion of confidence

At the same time, the opposition parties in Parliament, according to Malema, will bring a motion of no confidence against Ramaphosa.

The parties want the president to be held accountable for the controversial February 2020 robbery that took place at his Phala Phala farm in Limpopo.

The Public Protector’s office and the Hawks are the only institutions who have confirmed their investigations into the robbery.

The Hawks on Tuesday revealed that they were processing at least 41 affidavits regarding the case.

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