By Paul Vecchiatto and Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s legal team plans to file court papers early next week seeking a review of an independent panel’s report that found he may have breached the constitution in his handling of a burglary at his game farm.
The application will be filed at the Western Cape High Court on Monday, Ramaphosa’s lawyer, Peter Harris, said by text message on Friday.
The court bid comes after South Africa’s Constitutional Court earlier this month revived an investigation into whether his handling of the theft of foreign exchange from his wildlife ranch in 2020 broke the law.
Thieves stole about R10 million in foreign currency allegedly hidden in furniture at Ramaphosa’s game farm. He maintained that the money came from legitimate cattle sales.
Ramaphosa has denied any wrongdoing.
Ramaphosa explained his decision to challenge the report is to affirm the need for such findings to be correct in law. He argued that accepting the report without challenge “would be to give credence to a panel report that unfortunately has grave flaws”.
Known as the Phala Phala scandal, the debacle its back in the spotlight as the president and his party prepare for challenging local elections later this year.