Parties accuse ANC of betraying accountability in Phala Phala vote

Opposition MPs on Tuesday appealed to the conscience of President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC caucus to vote in favour of accountability, transparency and stop fighting against a process that may or may not clear his name. 

Poltical parties were speaking during an intense debate on the section 89 panel report which found that the president has a case to answer relating to the theft of money at his Phala Phala farm.

If the report is adopted, parliament may institute impeachment proceedings against Ramaphosa. However, opposition parties have a mountain to climb as their preferred route for accountability from Ramaphosa could easily be squashed by the majority ANC MPs.

LISTEN | Ramaphosa wins vote, but parties accuse ANC of betraying accountability

DA leader John Steenhuisen spoke directly to the ANC MPs, telling them: “We’re not voting to find a president innocent or guilty of an impeachable offence. We’re not weighing up evidence to reach a verdict. That only happens later.

“Today is simply about letting due process take its course, it is about acknowledging — as the authors of the report did — that the large gaps in the story around the hidden and stolen dollars warrant further inquiry. An inquiry that must be undertaken by a committee of this assembly.”

The leader of the opposition compared the moment to the Jacob Zuma presidency, where ANC MPs shielded him from accountability over the Nkandla scandal.

“Not under this president who rode in majestically on the promise of a new dawn and pledged to do things differently, and yet, here we are again. What has really changed?

“As long as you have the numbers in parliament, you can make any scandal go away. If that’s how you intend to vote today — one unified shield against accountability and oversight, just like you did in the Zuma days — then shame on you,” said Steenhuisen.

EFF leader Julius Malema said Ramaphosa stood as the greatest enemy of constitutionalism and accountability.

“As a so-called champion of accountability, you today avoid scrutiny and questioning like a fugitive, your reluctance to allow inquiry into matters of Phala Phala farm are shocking and concerning.

“Instead of clearing your name, you have mobilised your party to fight against an attempt to find the truth of what happened in Phala Phala,” said Malema. 

He also suggested that a vote against the adoption of the section 89 report by ANC MPs would mean they were not concerned about establishing the facts around Phala Phala.

“What have you become so much that you are afraid to hold one individual accountable in defence of our constitution? As we sit here today you have an opportunity to choose the constitution over an individual,” said Malema. 

IFP MP Mzamo Buthelezi said parliament should set in motion the process of an impeachment committee to allow Ramaphosa an opportunity to clear his name.

“Regardless of whether this right course of action will be defeated by the president’s party, and regardless of the outcome of the next process, something has been broken that cannot be fixed. South Africa’s trust in the president is irrevocably damaged.

“Worse still is that this trust was not only in the president, but in the president’s promise of a new dawn — the promise of honest leadership. Now we are left asking: is there any among them that is beyond reproach?” the IFP MP asked.

Buthelezi said the ANC has become a morass of moral corruption.

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa and the ATM's Vuyo Zungula also called on ANC MPs to vote in favour of the report. 

“The section 89 panel has found that the president has a case to answer. Let there be now a full inquiry by parliament — the institution that elected him to office, to which he is constitutionally accountable,” said Holomisa. 

Zungula argued the voting results will either affirm that no one is above the law or some people are.

“It will be a travesty of justice if parliament determines that the president should not be given an opportunity to clear his name with such serious allegations hanging over his head,” he said.

“It is only parliament that is empowered to investigate constitutional breaches and acts of misconduct of the president. The impeachment committee may agree with the case of the president and the case will be closed, unless of course the president has something to hide.”

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