The ramifications of yesterday's Constitutional Court hearing on the Nkandla debacle will be extremely far-reaching.To start with, President Jacob Zuma's job might ultimately be on the line.As Zuma's lawyer, Jeremy Gauntlett SC, put it, the opposition EFF and the DA might try to impeach the president and "it would be wrong that this court be put in a position to make some wide order which can be used" in such an attempt.The court has reserved judgment but it seems highly likely that it will find that Zuma flouted the constitution by disregarding Public Protector Thulia Madonsela's finding that he repay some of the millions in public money spent on his private home.If such a finding is made, it is highly likely that the opposition will initiate impeachment proceedings against the president.Whether they would succeed is another story entirely - the ANC could use its comfortable majority in parliament to quash any such attempt.Ultimately, it is the ruling party that will decide Zuma's fate and any decision is likely to be made with the imminent municipal elections in mind. Though he is likely to survive in the short term, it no longer seems impossible that he might be ''encouraged'' to step down before his term ends.Perhaps more significantly for our constitutional democracy will be the effect of the court's finding on the powers of the public protector. A definitive ruling that her findings are legally binding and not mere ''recommendations'', as Zuma and his acolytes had long argued, would be a tremendous fillip to good governance and a real check on the abuse of executive power.An important caveat here is that the public protector's seven-year term expires in October. As Madonsela has shown, everything depends on the personal courage of the incumbent.Finally, our timid ANC parliamentarians, who have allowed themselves to be used as rubber stamps by an increasingly imperious executive, might be persuaded by the court hearing to start exercising some real oversight...