WATCH | Phala Phala inquiry report handed in, but we wait to hear if panel thinks president should face impeachment

South Africans will have to wait a little longer to know whether President Cyril Ramaphosa has an impeachable case to answer to.

This is despite the section 89 panel of legal experts, headed by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, on Wednesday handing over their report to National Assembly speaker Nosiwe Mapisa-Nqakula.

While the country remains on tenterhooks about the matter, Mapisa-Nqakula said the report would be released to MPs and the public at large through parliament’s public announcement mechanism, the ATC, which will be published on Thursday. 

“The point is we have to follow processes and rules that have been determined by parliament,” she said.

The Ngcobo panel was instituted by Mapisa-Nqakula in September to make a determination on whether Ramaphosa has an impeachable case against him stemming from a burglary that took place at his Phala Phala farm in Limpopo two years ago.

Millions in foreign currency were allegedly stolen and the crime allegedly kept under wraps.

The speaker set up the panel after the African Transformation Movement filed a motion of no confidence in Ramaphosa over the Phala Phala matter.

The findings of the Ngcobo panel report may have serious political implications for Ramaphosa should they be negative against him, as the ANC is due to hold its national elective congress from December 16.

The panel had an operating budget of R5.3m but it’s not clear if that was exhausted.

The National Assembly is due to debate and vote on Ngcobo’s report on December 6.

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