CAPE TOWN, June 13 (Xinhua) -- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa filed an urgent court application late Friday seeking to halt Parliament's impeachment proceedings against him over the Phala Phala case.
In papers submitted to the Western Cape High Court, Ramaphosa argued that the proceedings should be suspended while he challenged an independent panel report on the case.
He said even if only part of the impeachment proceedings were allowed to be undertaken before the validity of the report is determined, "substantial harm will already have been done."
"The effectiveness of the review proceedings will have been materially undermined," he added. "I will not be able to obtain substantial redress in due course."
The urgent application followed a separate legal challenge launched by Ramaphosa on May 26, in which he asked the Western Cape High Court to review and set aside the independent panel report.
The move also came after South Africa's Constitutional Court ruled last month that Parliament had acted unlawfully in rejecting the panel's findings. Following the ruling, National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza appointed a committee to reconsider the impeachment process.
The Phala Phala case arose from the alleged theft of about 580,000 U.S. dollars in cash from Ramaphosa's private game farm in Limpopo Province in 2020, raising questions about whether the money was properly declared to authorities.
The independent panel, chaired by former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, concluded in its 2022 report that there was prima facie evidence of serious misconduct by Ramaphosa in connection with the case.
In December 2022, the National Assembly, where the ruling African National Congress held a majority, voted against adopting the report and proceeding with impeachment. ■