By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa was granted an interim interdict by the Western Cape High Court on July 24, 2026, halting Parliament’s Section 89 impeachment hearings.
The full bench of judges ordered the temporary pause to preserve the status quo pending the outcome of his fast-tracked review application challenging the independent panel’s Phala Phala report.
The arguments were heard over days last week before Judges André le Grange, Matthew Francis and Diane Davis.
Advocate Wim Trengove, for the president, had argued that putting him through a public inquiry before the report was tested in court risked doing him an injustice that could not be undone.
Opposition parties opposed the bid, calling it an attempt to buy time.
On Friday, Le Grange stated that the court had “carefully” evaluated the arguments presented by all parties, ultimately delivering three separate judgments.
In the first judgment, the court found that Ramaphosa had failed to establish a case in his application.
“It proposes that the application should be dismissed,” the judge said.
The second and third judgments, however, granted an interim interdict for a limited duration.
As a result, National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza, cited as the first respondent, along with the chairperson of the impeachment committee, has been instructed to halt proceedings pending the outcome of the review challenge.
The issue of legal costs was deferred and will be decided by the court once the review application has been finalised.
“That is our judgment,” Le Grange remarked.
Ramaphosa’s review application came as the National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza announced the list of 31 MPs who will serve on the impeachment committee that will be headed by Gana Makashule.
This was after the Constitutional Court cleared the path for a public impeachment hearing into his conduct surrounding the theft of cash at his Phala Phala farm. The court found, that Rule 129I of the Rules of the National Assembly was unconstitutional and set it aside.
It also set aside the National Assembly vote in December 2022, in which it declined to refer Section 89 report to an impeachment committee.
The panel was unconvinced by Ramaphosa’s account of the theft of $580,000 from a couch in a room on his Phala Phala farm in February 2020, and did not accept his claims that the money had been the proceeds of a buffalo sale.
Its 82-page report found that the President had a case to answer over serious violations of the Constitution for exposing himself to a conflict of interest, doing outside paid work and contravening the Prevention of Corrupt Activities Act.
Ramaphosa previously approached the Constitutional Court in 2022 for direct access to challenge the report. However, the court dismissed his request, and the application was later abandoned after the National Assembly vote rendered it moot.
Ramaphosa has now revived the matter in the Western Cape high court. His core argument, that the panel “misconceived its mandate, misjudged the information placed before it and misinterpreted the four charges” against him, is mostly unchanged; as is his contention that the panel made findings against him about matters outside of the four charges he was asked to respond to.
Responding to the ruling on Friday morning, Gana said he noted the Western Cape Division of the High Court’s decision to interdict the impeachment proceedings.
“We now await the full judgment which we will study and be able to give further updates in terms of the work that the committee still has to do, because what I heard, it’s only the public hearings that have been interdicted,” he added.
In a statement, the Presidency said Ramaphosa noted the ruling of the high court, adding that he “reaffirms his respect of judicial independence and separation of powers enshrined in our Constitution.”
“The president will continue to cooperate with and abide by processes of accountability,” it said.
Ramaphosa previously threatened to resign from his position over the scandal, but was convinced to stay on by senior members of his party, the African National Congress (ANC).