South African court gives Ramaphosa breathing room in $580,000 Phala Phala impeachment saga

A South African court has temporarily halted parliamentary impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa, offering the embattled leader a legal reprieve in the long-running $580,000 Phala Phala farm scandal that has shadowed his presidency for nearly four years.

• A South African court has temporarily halted impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa over the $580,000 Phala Phala farm scandal.
• The Western Cape High Court's ruling pauses public hearings pending Ramaphosa's legal challenge to the impeachment process.
• The proceedings relate to a 2020 burglary at Ramaphosa's farm, where large sums of cash were stolen.
• The impeachment effort was previously blocked by the ANC but was revived after a Constitutional Court ruling criticized Parliament's earlier actions.

The Western Cape High Court on Friday ordered Parliament to suspend public hearings by its Section 89 Impeachment Committee pending the outcome of Ramaphosa's legal challenge to the process.

The ruling prevents lawmakers from proceeding with the inquiry for now but does not bring the impeachment effort to an end.

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How the Phala Phala scandal began

The impeachment proceedings stem from the controversial 2020 burglary at Ramaphosa's Phala Phala game farm, where thieves allegedly stole about $580,000 hidden inside furniture.

The president has consistently maintained that the cash was proceeds from the legitimate sale of buffaloes to a Sudanese businessman and denied any wrongdoing.

However, the incident triggered allegations over why such a large amount of money was kept at the farm, whether all relevant authorities were properly informed, and whether state resources were improperly used in the aftermath of the theft.

The controversy first threatened Ramaphosa's presidency in 2022, when an independent parliamentary panel concluded there was prima facie evidence that he may have violated the Constitution and recommended that Parliament consider impeachment proceedings.

Those efforts were blocked after the governing African National Congress (ANC) used its parliamentary majority to vote against launching an impeachment inquiry.

Court revives impeachment case

The matter resurfaced this year after South Africa's Constitutional Court ruled that Parliament had acted irrationally in rejecting the panel's findings, effectively reviving the impeachment process and paving the way for a Section 89 committee to begin hearings.

Ramaphosa subsequently turned to the courts, arguing that Parliament should not proceed with impeachment while he challenges the legality of the independent panel's report that triggered the process.

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The High Court agreed to temporarily halt the hearings until that review is heard.

Although Friday's ruling pauses the parliamentary inquiry, it does not determine whether Ramaphosa can ultimately be impeached. If the president's legal challenge fails, Parliament could resume the Section 89 proceedings.

Even then, removing a South African president from office requires the support of two-thirds of the National Assembly, a threshold that analysts say remains difficult to achieve despite the ANC's loss of its outright parliamentary majority in the 2024 elections.

The latest ruling nevertheless offers Ramaphosa breathing room as he seeks to draw a line under one of the most politically damaging controversies of his presidency.