South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says he will legally challenge a report that has paved the way for parliament to consider impeachment proceedings against him over the theft of large sums of cash from his private farm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Constitution Court ruling last week found that parliament acted unconstitutionally when it voted against establishing an impeachment inquiry against Ramaphosa regarding the Phala Phala report in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I remain here and am not resigning,” Ramaphosa said on Monday, ending days of speculation over whether he would step down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The controversy stems from the so-called Phala Phala scandal, in which thousands of dollars were stolen from furniture at his game farm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An independent panel found there was prima facie evidence Ramaphosa may have committed serious misconduct in the way he handled the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has denied wrongdoing, and said the money came from the legitimate sale of buffalo from his farming business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Africa’s Constitutional Court last week ruled the matter should be examined further through an impeachment process in parliament, rather than be dismissed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ramaphosa said he will now ask the courts to review and set aside the report, which he argues relied on hearsay evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the process goes ahead, the report would form the basis of opposition efforts to remove him from office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Political analyst Professor Richard Calland said the president would likely survive a parliamentary vote, but added the legal challenge may be aimed at avoiding a damaging impeachment hearing altogether \u2013 which would hurt his reputation and legacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says he will legally challenge a report that has paved the way for parliament to consider impeachment proceedings against him over the theft of large sums of cash from his private farm. A Constitution Court ruling last week found that parliament acted unconstitutionally when it voted against establishing an impeachment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12616,"featured_media":709639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[57474,2405,57476,57475,57477],"coauthors":[9115],"class_list":["post-801382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","tag-constitutional-court-south-africa","tag-cyril-ramaphosa","tag-phala-phala-scandal","tag-ramaphosa-impeachment","tag-south-africa-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n