By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo will head an independent panel that will recommend whether or not to initiate a process to impeach President Cyril Ramaphosa after allegations that he concealed a burglary at his farm.
In a statement late on Wednesday, the National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula named the panel, which alongside Ngcobo comprises retired Gauteng High Court Judge Thokozile Masipa and University of Cape Town public law associate professor Richard Calland.
ATM tabled the motion after former spy boss Arthur Fraser, in June 2022, filed a police report about the theft of US dollars from Ramaphosa’s farm in Phala Phala, Limpopo, in February 2020.
Political parties represented in Parliament had submitted 17 names by 1 September for the Speaker to consider as potential panel members.
Ngcobo, outspoken and highly regarded, was briefly embroiled in controversy in mid-2011 when then president Jacob Zuma’s move to extend his term at the helm of the Constitutional Court was litigated against.
Ngcobo declined any extension of office in late July 2011.
Judge Masipa is probably best known by the public for finding Paralympian Oscar Pistorius not guilty of the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, but convicting him on a lesser count. The 2014 ruling was overturned on appeal and Pistorius’s jail time increased from six to 15 years.
Calland is a public law academic, columnist and author.
The panel will start its work on a date to be determined after administrative processes have been concluded, parliament said in the statement. The National Assembly’s rules for the section 89 process require three “fit and proper, competent, experienced and respected South African citizens”, to serve on the panel.
Once started, the panel will have 30 days to report back to Mapisa-Nqakula.
Meanwhile the Democratic Alliance (DA) has expressed concern about the composition of the Section 89 Inquiry that will be investigating Ramaphosa’s complicity in the robbery at his Phala Phala farm.
“The rules of the National Assembly which were adopted to give effect to Section 89 of the Constitution are clear. The Speaker ought to select – following consultation with the parties represented in Parliament – three members who are “fit and proper, competent, experienced and respected South African citizens, which may include a Judge”.
“More importantly, the panel should be independent and objective in order to do its work without fear or prejudice.
“While the DA has no concerns about the members of the judiciary who have been appointed, they are not convinced of Professor Calland’s objectivity and independence, read the statement.
“Professor Calland is no doubt a respected academic in the legal fraternity but is also a political commentator who routinely plays into the political fray; publicly offering his political views especially as it pertains to the President.”
“The rules do make provision for the inclusion of an academic, however, the inclusion of Professor Calland will inevitably threaten the legitimacy and the integrity of the entire process.
Professor Calland has, through his political commentary and social media pronouncements, displayed a consistent bias towards the President which makes him unsuitable for this role given that this panel must be free from any hint of bias.