By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party and the United Africans Transformation (UAT), are seeking leave to appeal the judgement granting interim interdict to temporarily pause Parliament’s Section 89 public impeachment hearings.
The Western Cape High Court granted President Cyril Ramaphosa an interim interdict halting public hearings of Impeachment Committee pending his review application.
Political Parties including the ATM, EFF, MK Party, and UAT launched urgent direct appeals to the Constitutional Court to set aside the interdict.
However the Constitutional Court has denied direct access to political parties and Parliament’s Section 89 committee.
In the new application, Ramaphosa is cited as the first respondent, alongside Vuyolwethu Zungula, the African Transformation Movement (ATM), the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the Speaker of the National Assembly and the chairperson of Parliament’s impeachment committee.
In court papers, the MK Party and UAT argue that the full court made several errors in dismissing their case and contend that another court would have reasonable prospects of reaching a different conclusion.
They also accuse Ramaphosa of employing delaying tactics throughout the litigation, pointing to what they describe as the unexplained abandonment of an earlier review application.
The applicants further argue that the court should have considered imposing punitive or personal costs against the President because of what they characterise as an abuse of the litigation process.
According to the application, Ramaphosa is legally precluded from advancing the current review because of his earlier litigation choices, with the parties arguing that he “cannot blow hot and cold” by pursuing inconsistent positions in related proceedings.
The applicants also maintain that the full court failed to properly apply what they describe as the relevant legal test governing the review and overlooked procedural defects that, in their view, undermined the President’s case.
The Western Cape High Court is set to hear the review case from September 2 to September 4, while Ramaphosa has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
He is seeking to overturn a judicial panel’s finding that his handling of the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars, hidden in a couch at his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo province, was unlawful.
Ramaphosa contends that the process was flawed due to errors made by the advisory panel, which concluded that he may have committed serious violations related to the robbery at his wildlife farm.
In documents submitted to the Western Cape High Court on May 26, Ramaphosa requested that the court review and dismiss the panel’s 2022 report.
He argued that the panel’s conclusions were based on hearsay and did not follow proper procedures. He also asked for any related parliamentary actions to be suspended until the review is resolved.