The African Transformation Movement (ATM) has announced that it will urgently approach the Constitutional Court following Friday’s split judgment by the Western Cape High Court, which temporarily halted Parliament’s Section 89 impeachment inquiry into President Cyril Ramaphosa over the Phala Phala scandal.
The latest legal move comes just hours after the High Court granted Ramaphosa an interim interdict preventing Parliament’s Impeachment Committee from continuing with public hearings while his review application against the Section 89 Independent Panel report is being considered.
Friday’s ruling was significant because it was not unanimous. In a split judgment, the majority of judges found that Ramaphosa had met the requirements for interim relief, effectively pausing the impeachment inquiry. However, the dissenting judge disagreed, finding that the President had failed to establish a case for an interim interdict.
The decision means Parliament’s Section 89 Committee cannot continue with its work until the review application has been determined, placing the politically sensitive impeachment process on hold.
In a statement issued on Friday, the ATM argued that the split judgment has created constitutional uncertainty because the Constitutional Court had previously directed Parliament to proceed with the impeachment process after setting aside an earlier National Assembly decision not to establish a Section 89 committee.
The party contends that Parliament cannot simultaneously be under an obligation to implement a Constitutional Court order while being restrained by a High Court from carrying out that process.
“A split judgment on whether Parliament may proceed with implementing a Constitutional Court order creates serious constitutional uncertainty,” the party said.
The ATM further argued that the ruling risks creating a precedent where a lower court interferes with the implementation of an order issued by South Africa’s apex court.
“Our legal team has been briefed to approach the Constitutional Court on an urgent basis to seek clarity on the implementation and effect of its order,” the party said.
The party stressed that its intended application is not an attack on the judiciary but a necessary step to obtain certainty regarding Parliament’s constitutional responsibilities, the authority of the Constitutional Court and the future of the Section 89 process.
National spokesperson Zama Ntshona said the President’s legal victory should not be interpreted as an acquittal on the merits of the allegations surrounding the Phala Phala matter.
“The President has secured an interim interdict. He has not been cleared of the allegations. ATM will file papers on an urgent basis,” Ntshona said.
The Section 89 process stems from allegations relating to the 2020 theft of millions of US dollars in cash hidden at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo. The controversy has dominated South African politics since it became public in 2022 and resulted in the establishment of an independent parliamentary panel to determine whether the President had a case to answer for possible serious violations of the Constitution.
Although the panel found there was prima facie evidence that Ramaphosa may have committed serious violations warranting further investigation, the National Assembly initially voted against establishing an impeachment committee. That decision was later overturned by the Constitutional Court, which ordered Parliament to establish the committee in line with Section 89 of the Constitution.
With the High Court’s interim order now in place and the ATM preparing to seek urgent relief from the Constitutional Court, the legal battle over the future of the impeachment inquiry appears far from over. The Constitutional Court’s response could determine whether Parliament resumes its inquiry or whether the process remains suspended pending Ramaphosa’s review application.
