South Africa's ruling African National Congress finds itself in unprecedented constitutional territory after the Constitutional Court ordered parliament to establish an impeachment committee investigating President Cyril Ramaphosa over the Phala Phala scandal.
The Friday ruling, reported by TimesLIVE, has triggered urgent weekend meetings among top ANC officials scrambling to manage a crisis that could force Ramaphosa's premature exit or destabilize the Government of National Unity.
The scandal centers on more than $500,000 in cash allegedly hidden in one of the president's sofas—a revelation made by former spy chief Arthur Fraser in 2022 that has haunted Ramaphosa's presidency ever since. The Constitutional Court's intervention came after the Economic Freedom Fighters challenged the previous impeachment process, which the ANC-dominated parliament had effectively shut down.
National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza has been consulting legislative advisers on how to compose this first-ever impeachment committee in South African democratic history. The ANC's top seven officials planned to make the Phala Phala situation a priority at their regular Monday meeting, exploring whether they can challenge the section 89 independent panel's report through judicial review—essentially seeking another legal avenue to contain the damage.
The timing could not be worse for the ANC, which lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in three decades during last year's elections, forcing it into a coalition government with the Democratic Alliance and other parties. An impeachment process threatens to expose deep fissional divisions within the party between Ramaphosa loyalists and his critics, many aligned with former president Jacob Zuma's faction.
"The ANC is panicking," one senior party source told TimesLIVE, speaking on condition of anonymity. The party fears that an extended impeachment inquiry could paralyze governance and embolden opposition parties to demand 's resignation even before the committee completes its work.
