South Africa’s president faces call to resign after court ruling

Leading South African opposition figure Julius Malema has called on president Cyril Ramaphosa to resign after the Constitutional Court ruled parliament had violated the constitution by blocking moves to impeach him in 2022.

The judgement follows a legal challenge by Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and others, and could result in fresh impeachment proceedings. Ramaphosa’s office says he respects the judgement.

In 2022, an independent panel said he may have a case to answer after burglars stole $580 000 in cash, hidden in a sofa, from his rural home.

The theft led to allegations that he had not accounted for where the cash had come from. The president denied wrongdoing.

But impeachment proceedings were blocked four years ago in a parliamentary vote. At that time Ramaphosa’s African National Congress (ANC) had a majority in parliament, but since the 2024 general election the ANC has been governing in a coalition.

Following the judgement, Ramaphosa’s office said he “reaffirms his commitment to the constitution, the independence of the Judiciary and the rule of law”.

The statement saya the president had been “consistent in providing his full assistance” to all enquiries into the matter.

“President Ramaphosa maintains that no person is above the law and that any allegations should be subjected to due process without fear, favour or prejudice.”

The ANC also released a statement to similar effect, adding on X that the judgement shows “the importance of allowing institutions to function independently” within South Africa’s constitutional democracy.

Speaking to reporters outside the court in Johannesburg earlier, Malema said Ramaphosa should resign and “concentrate on this impeachment process because it has got serious implications on him as an individual”.

“You cannot serve the two – one is going to suffer,” he explained, referring to being president and preparing for impeachment.

The EFF took the case to the country’s highest court alongside the African Transformation Movement in 2024.

Malema, who his facing his own difficulties as he appeals against a sentence for the the illegal possession of a gun and firing it in public, says members of Ramaphosa’s ANC will impeach him because “the evidence will be before their eyes”.

His party has written to the speaker of the National Assembly, Thoko Didiza, asking for a “clear indication, within the next 48 hours, of specific steps” she intends to take given the judgement, South Africa’s News24 website reports.

Geordin Hill-Lewis, the leader of the Democratic Alliance, the second largest party in the governing coalition, says politicians must “uphold the rule of law”, and that parliament’s impeachment committee “must now do its work properly, rationally, fairly and constitutionally”.

This saga – dubbed ‘Farmgate’ by local media – began in 2020, after the $580 000 had allegedly been stolen from Phala Phala, Ramaphosa’s farm in the northern Limpopo province.

Two years later, an independent panel found evidence that the president may have violated his oath of office, but in a debate that focused on its conclusions, parliament voted 214 to 148 against setting up an impeachment committee.

South Africa has strict rules on holding foreign currency, which say that it must be deposited with an authorised dealer such as a bank with 30 days. At the time, Ramaphosa said the cash was from selling a buffalo.

Three people are on trial for the alleged theft.

– BBC

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