Panic stations for ANC over Phala Phala

A panic-stricken ANC is scrambling for ways to postpone or avert an impeachment process for President Cyril Ramaphosa over the Phala Phala scandal — and the DA, its biggest partner in the GNU, says it will not necessarily throw him a lifeline.

The DA’s newly elected parliamentary leader, George Michalakis, told the Sunday Times on Friday that the party was not prepared to betray its principles just to keep an individual in office or the GNU intact.

At the same time, top ANC figures held the weekend in urgent meetings to brainstorm how to manage the crisis that could end in Ramaphosa’s premature exit from office or even in the collapse of the GNU.

It is understood that National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza has been consulting the legislature’s top advisers on how an impeachment committee — which would be the first ever of its kind — might be composed.

The Phala Phala fallout is expected to be top of the agenda tomorrow when the ANC’s top seven officials meet in their regular Monday meeting. They are expected to discuss ways of salvaging the situation, including possibly taking the section 89 independent panel’s report into Phala Phala on judicial review.

The political drama erupted on Friday when the Constitutional Court, ruling on an application brought by the EFF, ordered parliament to set up an impeachment committee to probe the Phala Phala saga, which was sparked by Arthur Fraser’s revelations in 2022 that more than $500,000 in cash had been concealed in one of Ramaphosa’s sofas.

The court ruled that the National Assembly acted unlawfully when it voted to reject the report of the section 89 panel, headed by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, without first referring it to an impeachment committee.

The Ngcobo panel had found that Ramaphosa had a case to answer arising from the affair. Fraser had accused him of, among other things, trying to cover up the theft of the money in 2020. The court also found that parliament, at the behest of the then majority ANC, was wrong to rely on parliament’s rule 129I to scupper the impeachment process. The court said the rule was unconstitutional and must be scrapped.

Ramaphosa had previously considered a legal challenge against the independent panel’s report but abandoned the idea after he was advised it had become moot following the ANC majority vote in parliament in December 2022, which gave his presidency what now turns out to have been a temporary reprieve.

ANC sources also indicated the party was toying with the idea of trying to water down the terms of reference of the impeachment committee, but the ANC’s rivals are likely to fight such a move tooth and nail.

Michalakis, who was promoted to parliamentary leader from chief whip this week, told the Sunday Times his party owed Ramaphosa no favours.

“There’s no guaranteed support, if there’s wrongdoing there must be accountability, it’s as simple as that. If the ANC was a party of principle, they would respect that.

We will be guided by the facts, by the evidence placed before the committee, and by our constitutional duty

—  George Michalakis, DA

“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.”

The president was a single individual, “and what is needed at this juncture is that accountability needs to take effect”, Michalakis said.

“We have had too many years of politicians who have not taken responsibility when accountability was necessary, so I would very much encourage the president to make use of this opportunity and put his defence. If he has any defence, then good, if there’s any wrongdoing, then accountability must happen.”

The ANC (159 MPs) and the DA (87 MPs) have enough votes between them — 246 — to thwart any impeachment vote against Ramaphosa. For an impeachment vote to get over the line, at least two-thirds of the 400 MPs, or 266, must support it.

Michalakis said the DA might be the ANC’s main partner in the GNU, but it was not just another ANC branch.

“Where there are findings of wrongdoing, the DA will hold the president to account, as we would hold everybody to account. The president is not an exception. If we are a party of the rule of law, it’s the rule of law that we ascribe to, not any individuals.

“That’s why we encourage the president to appear before that committee; in fact, he must appear before that committee.

“We are a partner in the GNU, we are not the ANC, we have not become the ANC. We are not going to say, ‘Well, we will forgo our principles for the sake of anything, of staying in government, of turning a blind eye.’”

Michalakis said the DA would urge Didiza to convene the impeachment committee as soon as possible.

“If there’s an impeachment against the head of state, would it be in anyone’s interest for this to drag out? The answer is no. It’s not in the interest of parliament; it’s not in the interests of the country.

“I am not in the position to dictate to the Speaker on how and what she must do, but I do think that, first, you’ve got a Constitutional Court judgment, and second, it’s in the national interest for this to be dealt with in a fair, transparent and effective way.

“And effective means it needs to be done without dragging it out unnecessarily. It needs to be done thoroughly, so it will probably take a long time; but dragging it out unnecessarily or for any political purposes, that’s not acceptable, it’s not in the interests of the country.”

A high-level ANC leader said there was “appetite” to take the report on judicial review, which would create a delay in the process. “There is a view that ‘Can’t we go and take that report of Ngcobo on review?’ Because when you take it on review, then you don’t have a report,” said the person.

“There is no running away from it. We do that thing [convene an impeachment committee] but we curtail their powers because parliament has got the right to curtail their powers.” Parliament sets the terms of reference of such committees, the person said.

“We then set the terms of reference in such a way that they will not make the president be embarrassed, or we take that report on review and we don’t continue.”

The source said if the impeachment process does go ahead, the ANC wants it dealt with swiftly.

“The [impeachment] process must take just six weeks, why would you want to take longer? ... [But] we will not allow them to humiliate our president.”

Lawson Naidoo, of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution, said it could be possible to take the report on judicial review, as the Constitutional Court had not dealt with its merits but purely with parliamentary procedure.

“I think it’s possible. I would not be surprised if somebody does it. It would need to be one of the parties or the president himself,” said Naidoo.

“The hurdle that the president or the ANC will have to overcome, is whether that matter is moot because the Constitutional Court has ruled that the matter must go directly to the impeachment committee. I don’t think that that would be an obstacle because the court did not pronounce in any way on the validity of the panel’s report. They did not need to consider that, so on that basis, it is still open for someone to challenge the report.

“And that would have the effect of holding up the process. Either that, or the president’s resignation, will hold the process. If an application were to be launched, say on Monday, I don’t think the Speaker can proceed to set up the committee.”