Phala Phala: ConCourt declines to hear appeal on Ramaphosa interdict ruling

The Constitutional Court has declined to hear an urgent appeal challenging a ruling that halted President Cyril Ramaphosa's Phala Phala impeachment inquiry. In a ruling on Wednesday, the high court declined to grant permission to appeal the previous judgment, dismissing applications for leave to appeal. The court concluded that there was no strong basis for filing a replying affidavit and deemed it not in the best interests of justice to hear the matter at this time, given the impending determination of a review in the Western Cape Division of the High Court.

The review outcome will render the interim interdict unnecessary. Several political parties, including the Atterbury Movement, Economic Freedom Fighters, United Africans Transformation, and the uMkhonto weSizwe Party, had sought to overturn the Western Cape High Court's ruling that granted Ramaphosa an interdict, putting a stop to the public hearings of Parliament's impeachment committee.

Ramaphosa is seeking to overturn the panel's findings, which concluded that he has questions to answer regarding the theft of around $580,000 from his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo in February 2020. The review is scheduled to be heard from September 2 to 4 by the Western Cape High Court. This legal dispute follows a May ruling by the Constitutional Court, which found that Parliament had unlawfully blocked impeachment proceedings against the president in December 2022.

Consequently, the National Assembly was ordered to establish a formal impeachment committee to investigate the allegations further. The committee comprises 31 members of parliament from 16 political parties.