‘Ramaphosa will be arrested’ if no-confidence motion succeeds – Malema

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says he believes President Cyril Ramaphosa will be arrested immediately over the Phala Phala farm robbery if he is impeached.

Malema revealed during a media briefing on Wednesday that opposition parties in Parliament 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.

‘Fear or favour’

During briefing, Malema criticised various institutions – including the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), the South African Revenue Service (Sars), and the South African Police Service (Saps) – for turning a blind eye over the allegations surrounding the robbery.

Hence, the EFF leader said, why the opposition intends to file the motion.

“The presence of the president in that office destabilises the ability and the capacity of the state institutions to investigate without fear or favour.

“If we succeed in the motion of no confidence against President Ramaphosa, I can tell you now [that] he will be arrested the following day. They will be ready to move on him,” he added.

ALSO READ: Phala Phala: ‘Don’t treat us like the media, answer our questions,’ EFF tells Reserve Bank

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

Malema said the opposition did not need the ANC to pass a motion of no confidence, however, he did expect MPs belonging to the governing party “to do the right thing”.

“Don’t create an impression that we have been here before and lost. We won. We said President Zuma will not conclude his term of office, we put a motion of no confidence as the EFF,” he continued to say.

The EFF leader labelled Ramaphosa as a “nobody” with “no struggle credentials”.

“We owe him nothing. If anything he is a suspect of being a sellout and a conniver with the apartheid regime and therefore he will never bully us. [Whether] he likes it or not he is going to account. We are not scared of him, neither are we scared of all the institutions protecting him,” he said.

Parliament panel

Malema further explained that the DA did not necessarily support the motion of no confidence as the party still wants a parliamentary ad hoc committee to be established.

According to the EFF leader, the DA had asked for the Section 89 inquiry process “be given a chance” first.

An independent panel – which must consist of three experienced persons – will decide whether Ramaphosa will be subject to a process that may lead to his removal from office in terms of Section 89 of the Constitution and Rule 129A-Q of the National Assembly Rules.

READ MORE: MPs unhappy with Phala Phala probe, says intelligence committee ‘bound by secrecy’

The panel referral by National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, however, does not constitute a parliamentary impeachment process.

The opposition parties, Malema said, will submit the names of former judges Mogoeng Mogoeng, Dikgang Moseneke, Bernard Ngoepe, and Yvonne Mokgoro to sit in the panel.

Meanwhile, Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence has been tasked to look into whether Deputy State Security Minister Zizi Kodwa was involved in the alleged cover-up of the Phala Phala theft and whether a secret crime intelligence fund was used in the undercover operations.

♦️ICYMI♦️

CIC @Julius_S_Malema at the joint press briefing reading the statement of opposition political parties.

We will jointly and individually submit the names of former judges to the parliamentary section 89, independent panel that will investigate the conduct of Ramaphosa pic.twitter.com/dGz7o45xh5

— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) August 17, 2022