Phala Phala ruling: ANC at crossroads for 2026

The ANC has been advised to call urgent meetings of its top leadership structures to deal with the Constitutional Court’s Phala Phala judgement, likely to adversely affect its 2026 local government elections campaign.

The call follows the apex court’s ruling on Friday that the National Assembly’s December 2022 vote declining to refer the Section 89 independent panel’s report, which found that president Cyril Ramaphosa had a prima facie case to answer, to an impeachment committee in terms of parliamentary rules was inconsistent with the constitution, invalid, and set it aside.

The report of the three-member independent panel, which was chaired by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, has now been referred by the Constitutional Court to the impeachment committee established in terms of the National Assembly’s rules.

Ntwanano Mathebula, associate professor at the University of Johannesburg’s School of Public Management, Governance and Public Policy, says the ANC has played a huge role in the mess it finds itself in by using majoritarian tactics to prevent the adoption of the Section 89 independent panel report, which saw Ramaphosa being shielded from rendering an account on the scandal relating to the undeclared United States dollars that were found and stolen from his Phala Phala farm in Bela-Bela, Limpopo.

“I think at this point, we see an ANC that is in crisis and I would expect that the secretary general (Fikile Mbalula) or whoever is responsible, calls an urgent national executive committee meeting, or even the national working committee to discuss this as a matter of urgency and priority – not only for the ANC but for the country – because we are not only speaking of a politician here who’s an incumbent of the ANC, but about a head of state,” Mathebula says.

He says the Phala Phala matter was a very serious case that cannot be downplayed and which has the potential of resulting in a conclusion that Ramaphosa has violated his oath of office.

According to Mathebula, another issue that made it difficult for the ANC was that it now had three options it could exercise – recall Ramaphosa as it did with former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, ask him (Ramaphosa) to resign, or have him resign on his own accord.

But the question would be: Who takes over?

Mbeki and Zuma were not party leaders when they were recalled in 2008 and 2018, respectively.

“And it seems the ANC doesn’t have a clear succession plan. Ramaphosa is tainted. Does the ANC want to be led by somebody who is not credible? Is the ANC willing to risk using his face in the local government elections campaigns?” Mathebula asks.

The ANC constitution makes provision for its National Executive Committee to appoint an acting president until such time as a national conference is convened in the event of death or permanent incapacity of its president or deputy president.

Should both the president and the deputy president be absent, the secretary general assumes the president’s functions.

University of Mpumalanga political analyst Khanya Vilakazi says the biggest issues the ANC has leading into the municipal polls in November are the fact that it has lost public confidence, and that Ramaphosa and his leadership have taken the party’s majority votes down to about 40% (in the 2024 national and provincial elections).

– IOL

– Read the full story at https://iol.co.za/news/politics/2026-05-10-the-anc-is-at-a-crossroads-party-urged-to-convene-leadership-meetings-after-phala-phala-ruling/

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