By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza has rejected the uMkhonto weSizwe Party’s (MK Party) call for the removal of Section 89 Impeachment Committee Chairperson, Makashule Gana.
The call for Gana’s removal comes a day after the committee voted to restart its nomination process for an evidence leader for the inquiry, after the recommendation of Advocate Thandazani Madonsela was called into question over perceptions of a conflict of interest.
It’s been three months since Rise Mzansi’s Gana was elected to chair the Section 89 inquiry – the first to be held against a sitting president.
MK Party parliamentary leader John Hlophe contended that Gana can, therefore, not be impartial in a process to hold the president accountable.
“Appointing a chair whose party is bound by a cooperation agreement with the president defeats that purpose. It’s irrational, ” said Hlophe.
Hlophe asked Didiza to declare Gana’s 1 June election inconsistent with the requirements of impartiality required by Section 89 of the Constitution and to direct a fresh election.
However, Didiza said Gana’s election was conducted through an open, fair and transparent process and that the Speaker has no power to override the committee’s internal democratic decisions.
Parliament’s spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said, “The Speaker has considered the matter and has responded to Hlope clarifying that the election of Gana was conducted through an open, fair and transparent process and that the Speaker is not empowered to override the internal democratic processes of a Parliamentary committee, particularly where decisions have been taken firmly in accordance with the rules.”
The Speaker will therefore not accede to the request from Hlope to review and set aside Gana’s election as the chairperson of the committee,” added Mothapo.
Meanwhile the Western Cape Division of the High heard president Cyril Ramaphosa’s review bid to set aside the November 2022 Section 89 panel report that found he may have committed a serious constitutional violation in connection with the theft of $580,000 stuffed into sofa cushions on his private Phala Phala game farm.
He argued the panel used the wrong legal standard when it assessed the information before it and relied on untested information, according to court papers filed on 26 May 2026.
In December 2022, just before the ANC elective conference that gave Ramaphosa another term as party president, the ANC used its parliamentary majority to vote down the Section 89 panel report.
After the Constitutional Court in early 2023 denied Ramaphosa direct access to review this Section 89 report, the President dropped litigation – until May 2026, when the Constitutional Court set aside that vote and in effect relaunched impeachment proceedings.
The EFF and ATM have already proven their appetite to go to court over the interdict. If Ramaphosa lost and appealed, the operational effect would be to suspend the Western Cape Division of the High Court review judgment – leaving the interdict against parliamentary impeachment proceedings in place. In this case, Parliament’s impeachment committee would continue to be hamstrung from proceeding.