By Thapelo Molefe
The Western Cape High Court is expected to deliver judgment on Friday morning in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s urgent application to suspend Parliament’s Section 89 impeachment committee pending the outcome of his review of the independent panel’s report that recommended an impeachment inquiry.
Judgment has been set down for 10am after a full bench heard two days of argument last week.
Ramaphosa is seeking an interim interdict preventing the committee from proceeding with public hearings until the court has ruled on his review application, which is scheduled to be heard in September.
The president is challenging the independent panel’s finding that there was sufficient evidence for Parliament to establish an impeachment committee.
His legal team argued that the panel applied the wrong legal test by relying on a prima facie standard rather than determining whether sufficient evidence existed to justify an inquiry.
Advocate Wim Trengove SC, appearing for Ramaphosa, also argued that the panel failed to properly consider whether there was evidence that the President had acted intentionally or in bad faith in relation to allegations arising from the Phala Phala matter.
Trengove told the court that Parliament’s impeachment rules were intended not only to hold presidents accountable but also to protect them from being subjected to unjustified impeachment proceedings.
Parliament, along with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the African Transformation Movement (ATM) and other respondents, opposed the application.
They argued that the Constitutional Court had already directed Parliament to proceed with the Section 89 process and that the impeachment inquiry should continue while Ramaphosa’s review application is heard separately.
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