Overview
- South Africa’s Constitutional Court set aside Parliament’s 2022 rejection of the Section 89 panel report and sent it to an impeachment committee for scrutiny.
- Speaker Thoko Didiza is establishing a 31-member committee that, according to published numbers, gives eight micro-parties nearly 26% of seats despite about 4% of the vote.
- President Cyril Ramaphosa says he will ask the High Court to review the Section 89 report, a route analysts say could take up to two years through appeals and complicate Parliament’s work.
- The case traces back to the 2020 theft of about $580,000 in foreign currency from Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm after a panel led by retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo found prima facie grounds for possible constitutional breaches.
- Coverage reflects sharp divides, with Daily Maverick urging a single standard for accountability and Sunday World citing probes by the Public Protector, the Reserve Bank, SARS and the Hawks that reported no wrongdoing by the president.