South Africa’s top court to rule on reviving President Ramaphosa’s impeachment

South Africa’s Constitutional Court said on Thursday it would hear next month a petition filed by two opposition parties to revive impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa over a scandal involving more than $500,000 in cash that was hidden in a sofa at his ranch and then stolen.

Mr Ramaphosa avoided an impeachment vote in 2022 when his party, the African National Congress (ANC), used its majority in parliament to block a motion, even after an independent report raised questions about his conduct and recommended a full investigation.

The ANC has since been joined by nine other parties in a broad coalition to govern South Africa , calming some of the criticism levelled at Mr Ramaphosa over the scandal.

However, two parties that are not part of the unity government, the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters and the Movement for the Transformation of Africa , have filed papers with the country’s highest court, arguing that parliament has failed to properly fulfill its constitutional role of holding the president to account.

The scandal erupted in June 2022 and posed a threat to Mr Ramaphosa’s leadership. It was revealed that at least $580,000 in US banknotes, hidden in a sofa at his Phala Phala farm , had been stolen more than two years earlier and kept secret.

Mr Ramaphosa has been accused by opposition parties of tax evasion , money laundering and breaching foreign exchange laws. He has denied wrongdoing and said the money came from legitimate sales of animals on the ranch, but has not explained why it was hidden in furniture.

He was also questioned about whether the theft had been properly reported to the police. Mr Ramaphosa said he had reported the theft to the head of his security detail, but he was accused of trying to cover up the theft and the existence of the money.

Mr Ramaphosa has been cleared by the Reserve Bank and a state watchdog, decisions that some opposition parties have also questioned.

Mr Ramaphosa, 71, was re-elected for a second term in June, but only with the help of opposition MPs, as the ANC lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since South Africa became a democracy in 1994, at the end of apartheid .

ADVERTISEMENT