The Constitutional Court has confirmed that its judgment on the Phala Phala scandal will be delivered within a month.
This comes after a formal complaint in March from the EFF regarding what the party labelled an “unacceptable delay”, noting that 776 days had passed since the initial complaint was lodged.
In a letter dated April 8 (Wednesday), the Constitutional Court’s chief registrar, Simone Lanique Tjamela, informed EFF leader Julius Malema that the court had received his enquiry sent in March.
“The chief justice has directed me to write to you as follows: Receipt of your letter dated March 25 2026 is hereby acknowledged. The preparation of the judgment is at an advanced stage, and its delivery is expected within a month,” the letter reads.
The court battle revolves around allegations that an undeclared amount of about $580,000 (R9.54m) was stolen from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo in 2020.
The EFF approached the Constitutional Court to challenge the National Assembly’s decision not to pursue impeachment proceedings against the president.
The EFF and other political parties have been vocal in their criticism of the pace of the judiciary’s work.
“This delay far exceeds not only ordinary judicial timelines but also binding judicial norms governing the performance of judicial functions,” Malema said.
“More fundamentally, this matter has now become one of the most delayed judgments in the modern history of the Constitutional Court, particularly in a case dealing directly with the conduct of the head of state.”
Malema said he found it “deeply troubling” that a matter involving the highest office in the land could remain unresolved for such an extended period.
TimesLIVE
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