Sawt Falasteen - South Africa top court revives impeachment inquiry against president

Ramaphosa is accused of hiding from police and tax authorities a 2020 break-in and theft of large sums of foreign currency allegedly stashed in furniture at his luxury Phala Phala farmhouse in the northern Limpopo province.

An independent panel later said he "may have committed" serious violations and misconduct.

But parliament, then controlled by his African National Congress (ANC) party, declined in 2022 to open impeachment proceedings that could have forced him from office.

"It is declared that the vote of the National Assembly taken on 13 December 2022... is inconsistent with the Constitution, invalid, and it is set aside," the Constitutional Court's Chief Justice Mandisa Maya said.

It ordered that the independent panel's report be referred to an impeachment committee.

The court decision followed a complaint lodged by the radical left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party.

The ruling is likely to heap fresh pressure on Ramaphosa and the ANC, which has been shedding support over unmet policy pledges and persistent accusations of corruption and weak governance, ahead of municipal elections on November 4.

The presidency said it "noted the judgement" and that Ramaphosa respected it.

"President Ramaphosa maintains that no person is above the law and that any allegations should be subjected to due process without fear, favour or prejudice," it said in a statement.

- 'Rough and thorough questions' -

The public prosecutor dropped money laundering and corruption charges against Ramaphosa in 2024.

EFF leader Julius Malema hailed Friday's ruling, saying: "We are happy our Constitution has won."

"The ANC itself has to take a decision whether it wants to be led by a president with this dark cloud hanging over him," Malema said outside the court in the financial capital Johannesburg.

Ramaphosa would face "very rough and thorough questions" if impeachment proceedings were opened, he added.

Unlike in 2022, the ANC no longer commands a majority in parliament.

Reduced to 40 percent of seats after a drubbing in the 2024 general election, Nelson Mandela's former liberation movement has been forced into an often-uneasy coalition with nine other parties.

The Democratic Alliance (DA), the second-largest party in the coalition, said it "will participate fully and constructively in the impeachment committee".

"We will be guided by the facts, by the evidence placed before the committee, and by our constitutional duty. We will not prejudge the outcome. But nor will we allow any person, no matter how high their office, to be placed above accountability," DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis said in a statement.

The scandal erupted in 2022 when the country's former spy boss filed a complaint with the police alleging that Ramaphosa had concealed the theft from beneath sofa cushions at his ranch.

Ramaphosa, who has denied any wrongdoing, allegedly arranged for the burglars to be kidnapped and bribed into silence when he should have reported the robbery to police.

The 73-year-old president has disputed the amount of money involved and said only $580,000 from the sale of 20 buffaloes to a Sudanese businessman had been stolen.

I.Saadi--SF-PST