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Zambia’s President Edgar Lungu attends a signing ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France on February 8, 2016.
There have been mixed reactions from opposition parties after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced he will take the Phala Phala independent panel report on judicial review and will not resign.
Ramaphosa announced this in an address to the nation on Monday night.
He said he had not stolen public money, nor had he committed any crime, and had cooperated with all investigations.
His decision comes after a Constitutional Court ruling that directed Parliament to refer the report to an impeachment committee.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Geordin Hill-Lewis says Ramaphosa’s decision to take the Independent Panel’s report on review should not be used to delay the work of Parliament.
Hill-Lewis says the legal position should be clarified as quickly as possible.
He says parliament also has some work to do.
VIDEO | Interview with DA’s Spokesperson Karabo Khakhau:
IMPEACHMENT
Meanwhile, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) says they expected Ramaphosa to take the Phala Phala report on judicial review.
EFF Spokesperson Sinawo Thambo says they will join the court application to oppose the move and urged Parliament’s speaker to continue with impeachment proceedings.
Thambo says, “It’s a lack of conscience and we expected it, so the Economic Freedom Fighters anticipated earlier in the afternoon (Monday) that he’s going to be taking the Phala Phala report on judicial review and we outlined with that they must remember that it is the same individual who submitted a review application in 2022, and then we threw it because he thought that he had politically succeeded in stifling it through an unconstitutional majority vote, and he has done exactly that now, is manoeuvring the judiciary on the basis that he’s trying to undermine the Constitutional Court’s referral the impeachment, the Phala-Phala report to the impeachment committee.”
VIDEO | Full interview with Thambo:
PRESIDENT’S REVIEW
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) Spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa says Parliament must carefully consider its response to the President’s review of the independent panel report.
Hlengwa says, “What is key is that the President is exercising a right legally, so I think that is a strength and testament to our democratic dispensation, and the constitution thereof, where you have a head of state who is able to subject himself to legal process, and that is important for the stability of the country.”
He says, “That’s the means we use to respond to such issues are constitutional. Parliament has still got a duty and the responsibility to effect the judgment of the Constitutional Court at this point in time in certain material respects because they are not, the judgment is whilst about President Ramaphosa, but it is also for posterity in terms of how we deal with an impeachment process.”
VIDEO | Hlengwa says Ramaphosa is exercising a right:
‘PRESIDENT FAILED TO ACT HONOURABLY’
uMkhonto we Sizwe Party (MKP) has reiterated its commitment to holding Ramaphosa accountable over allegations linked to the Phala Phala farm scandal.
The MKP Spokesperson, Nhlamulo Ndhlela, says the President has failed to act honourably and accused Parliament of protecting him.
Ndhlela says the party will pursue a motion of no confidence, insisting Ramaphosa must face accountability despite refusing to resign.
He says, “The reality is that the President has been implicated in a transaction that he himself has confirmed is that of a couch with cash on his farm, which is not of legal tender. Now, if there’s any South African who was going to be found with any cash on their land or property, with cash for a transaction, which is not of legal tender, they’d be arrested.”
VIDEO | Ndhela speaks to SABC News:
