By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has officially filed his application at the Western Cape High Court to review and set aside the Section 89 Independent Panel Report.
Fullview reported over the weekend that the president’s lawyer, Peter Harris confirmed that he will file papers on Monday.
The court bid comes after 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.
Ramaphosa has denied any wrongdoing.
The report found that there was prima facie evidence that Ramaphosa may have acted unlawfully following the theft from his Phala Phala farm.
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”.
In court papers, the president argued the panel relied on hearsay, misunderstood its powers and used questionable evidence to reach damaging conclusions.
He also questioned how confidential Namibian police documents and an audio recording ended up before the panel, warning the information may have been obtained unlawfully.
The President submits that the panel misunderstood its mandate and failed to consider if there was sufficient evidence to show a serious violation.
He is further asking the court that all related parliamentary processes should be put on hold until the conclusion of the review, the president said in his court papers.
He makes it clear that if parliament doesn’t stop the impeachment processes, he will launch a separate application to interdict. For now, he believes they will stop without being forced by an interdict.
The ongoing saga nonetheless poses political risks for him and the African National Congress (ANC) ahead of municipal elections in November, particularly if damning evidence emerges.