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South Africa’s top court ordered parliament to restart an impeachment inquiry into President Cyril Ramaphosa, ruling that lawmakers acted unlawfully when they blocked the process in 2022.
The majority ruling injects fresh uncertainty into a multiparty coalition government and marks the first time in post-apartheid South Africa a sitting president will be forced into a formal inquiry of this scale.
The judgment orders lawmakers to revive scrutiny of Ramaphosa’s handling of the 2020 theft of foreign currency from his Phala Phala game farm, a scandal that triggered allegations of a cover-up and money laundering.
The judges invalidated the December 2022 vote in which the then governing African National Congress (ANC) used its majority to stop the impeachment process from going forward after an independent panel led by a retired judge found evidence warranting a further investigation. That vote was “inconsistent with the constitution, invalid and set aside,” the judges held.
The ruling and what follows will be watched closely by investors and business leaders in Africa’s biggest economy: Standard Bank CEO Sim Tshabalala, speaking at Semafor World Economy last month, warned that the country’s anemic growth is rooted in the state’s basic inability to uphold the rule of law.
Market reaction was muted shortly after the judgment, with the rand currency, the barometer of investor confidence, little changed.
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The judgment also struck down a parliamentary rule governing impeachment procedures, saying it gave lawmakers too much discretion to halt the process. The court replaced it with a read-in version that obliges parliament to refer a panel’s findings to the impeachment committee, which is responsible for conducting a full inquiry into the hearing evidence, determining whether grounds exist to remove a sitting president.
The ruling follows a legal challenge by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) over the lawfulness of a December 2022 parliament vote. The vote, dominated by the African National Congress party’s majority at the time, quashed the independent panel report, which found evidence that Ramaphosa may have violated the constitution.
The case stems from the 2020 theft of about $580,000 in cash from Ramaphosa’s game farm. The money, hidden in furniture, was never reported through standard police channels, prompting the former intelligence chief in 2022 to file a criminal complaint alleging a cover-up, money laundering, and unlawful use of Ramaphosa’s bodyguards to track down suspects.
Ramaphosa has denied any wrongdoing, saying the cash came from the legitimate sale of Ankole cattle and that he had reported the matter internally to his head of security. His office said in a statement that it respects the ruling and that “no person is above the law.”
The View From Political Parties
The EFF has already written to the speaker of parliament demanding “clear timelines” for the committee’s formation while the Democratic Alliance, the second-biggest party in the coalition government, said it would not “shield wrongdoing.”
The DA will be the linchpin of the process, if the committee finds grounds to remove the president. To pass an impeachment vote, the EFF, which has already called the president to resign, and the uMkhonto weSizwe Party, led by former president Jacob Zuma, require the DA seats to reach a two-thirds majority.
The political permutations now range from a scenario where coalition partners find evidence insufficient to remove the president to an ANC-managed exit, where Ramaphosa is pressured to step aside to avoid a damaging, drawn out public trial. The ANC said the court decisions will be discussed further within the party, and that it “will ensure that what needs to be done is done correctly.”
Notable
- In Kenya, the High Court is reviewing a landmark case challenging the 2024 impeachment of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, which petitioners claim was a politically motivated “purge” orchestrated by President William Ruto to sideline a regional rival before the 2027 elections.