South African opposition party initiates move to revive Ramaphosa’s impeachment

South African opposition party the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) brought a case to the country’s top court on Tuesday to try to revive impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa over the scandal dubbed “Farmgate” by local media.

The scandal centred on the alleged theft of millions of dollars hidden in furniture on Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm, which a former intelligence official revealed to police.

An independent panel report found evidence Ramaphosa may have committed misconduct over the incident.

But in late 2022 lawmakers from Ramaphosa’s African National Congress (ANC), which had a majority in the National Assembly at the time, voted to reject the report and prevented an impeachment committee from being set up to probe the allegations.

The EFF argues the National Assembly acted unlawfully by not holding the president to account. Ramaphosa and the ANC say the report did not provide sufficient evidence to support its findings and relied on hearsay, according to a summary of the case published by the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg.

The first hearing started on Tuesday morning.

Ramaphosa has always denied wrongdoing over the affair and has not been charged with any crime.

The ANC lost its parliamentary majority in an election in May this year, but it continues to govern as part of a broad coalition with other parties.