By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa filed an urgent court application to interdict Parliament’s impeachment committee from proceeding with its work.
The application was filed on Friday, in the Western Cape High Court.
Ramaphosa seeks to interdict Parliament from probing his fitness to hold office until a separate court challenge that he instituted last month is concluded.
The case aims at having the findings of a Section 89 panel report that investigated his conduct set aside and will be heard by the High Court from 2 September 2026.
The panel recommended that Parliament institute an impeachment inquiry against Ramaphosa – after foreign currency was stolen from his Phala Phala farm in 2020.
However Parliament voted to block impeachment proceedings against the president.
The Constitutional Court struck down National Assembly Rule 129I, which previously allowed Parliament to reject the Independent Panel’s report without a full inquiry.
The court ordered Parliament to establish a dedicated Impeachment Committee to investigate the President’s conduct.
Parliament has since established a 31-member Section 89 Impeachment Committee to investigate whether he had violated the Constitution or engaged in misconduct.
The committee is chaired by Rise Mzansi MP Makashule Gana.
Ramaphosa said he believed the Section 89 panel report had relied on hearsay evidence and was fundamentally flawed.
According to the court papers, the president warned that allowing Parliament’s impeachment process to proceed while the review application is still pending would result in “irreparable harm” and create a constitutional conflict.
The president cited National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza and committee chairperson, Makashule Gana, as the first and second respondents.
Ramaphosa is asking the court to bar the speaker and committee chairperson from beginning impeachment proceedings, in terms of terms of rule 29M of the National Assembly rules.
He argues that the review proceedings could be undermined should the impeachment committee begin before the court determines the validity of the section 89 report.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), African Transformation Movement (ATM) are also listed as respondents.
Meanwhile Police Portfolio Committee members have questioned the police about the whereabouts of the infamous couch where $580,000 was concealed.
Members of the committee believe the couch is a central piece of evidence in the ongoing investigation into the robbery at the Phala Phala farm.
They have also accused the police of whitewashing the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID)’s investigation that found Presidential Protection Service head Wally Rhoode guilty of improper conduct.
The police and IPID were back before Parliament on Wednesday to respond to several concerns raised by MPs about how Rhoode was found not guilty by the police in an internal investigation.
The police and presidency stated the farm staff had sent the couch for reupholstering, but it remains unclear whether it was handed over as evidence.