Impeachment panel omits allegations of Ramaphosa cover-up
1 December 2022
Yesterday the Parliamentary Independent Panel investigating impeachment allegations found that President Cyril Ramaphosa is “guilty” on four serious charges relating to the Phala Phala scandal, but evidence on one of the most dangerous allegations was expressly, and alarmingly, omitted.
The ATM party submitted to the Panel that “Ramaphosa acted in bad faith and was conflicted when he suspended Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, the Public Protector …[and that] ATM contends that he was triggered by the 31 questions relating to the Phala Farm scandal”.
There should be no doubt that Mkhwebane should have been suspended years ago. There is also no doubt that Ramaphosa could have suspended her at least since February 2022. The question is therefore why he only suspended her on June 8, the day after she announced her investigation into Phala Phala, the day before a court judgment on whether the removal process was lawful, and months before other court challenges were decided.
Why did it take so long to suspend Mkhwebane? Ramaphosa cannot say it was because he wanted to wait for all Mkhwebane’s court challenges to clear first, as that had not yet happened. Nor can he say that he was acting expeditiously to protect the country, because then he would have suspended Mkhwebane months, or years, earlier.
As a full bench of the Western Cape High Court unanimously held:
“Significantly, the sequence of events leading to the suspension of the applicant cannot be discounted or overlooked…[O]n 7 June 2022, [Mkhwebane] informed the President in writing that she was instituting an investigation against him with regard to allegations relating to a violation of the Executive Ethics Code in respect of the Phala Phala farm incident. Thirty-one questions were raised and the President had to respond thereto within 14 days.
This correspondence was followed by a public announcement by the applicant on the 8 June 2022 that she had decided to launch an investigation against the President in respect of the Phala Phala matter. In response, on the 9 June 2022, the President decided to suspend the applicant.
On these objective facts, it is reasonable to form the perception that the suspension of the applicant was triggered by the decision of the applicant to institute an investigation against the President. There was no other plausible or logical explanation for the premature suspension of the applicant on the eve of a judgment meant to determine the very lawfulness of the suspension.”