President Cyril Ramaphosa has rejected calls to step down and announced he will legally challenge the Phala Phala report that has revived the prospect of impeachment, after a scathing Constitutional Court ruling last week ordered parliament to reconsider the matter.
In a televised address to the nation on Monday, Ramaphosa said he would not resign and would instead seek a judicial review of the report, which he argues relied on hearsay evidence.
He said the Constitutional Court “made no finding of any kind regarding my alleged conduct” and that nothing in the judgement “compels me to resign my office”.
“I therefore respectfully want to make it clear that I will not resign,” Ramaphosa said.
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The president’s defiance comes after the Constitutional Court found that Parliament acted unconstitutionally in 2022 when it voted against establishing an impeachment inquiry into the theft of foreign currency from Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm.
The court declared the earlier parliamentary decision invalid and directed that the Independent Panel Report be referred to an impeachment committee for further examination.
The panel, chaired by former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, had concluded there was prima facie evidence Ramaphosa may have committed serious misconduct in the way he handled the burglary, including failing to report the crime properly and potentially breaching executive ethics.
Ramaphosa has consistently denied wrongdoing, insisting the money stolen from furniture at the farm was from the legitimate sale of buffalos.
The Constitutional Court ruling has now placed the matter back before parliament, where opposition parties are expected to push for a full inquiry.
If the process proceeds, the panel’s findings will form the basis of efforts to remove the president from office.
AP
