Ramaphosa seeks urgent court order to halt parliamentary impeachment process

President Cyril Ramaphosa has launched an urgent application in the Western Cape High Court seeking to interdict Parliament's impeachment process against him pending the outcome of his legal challenge to the Section 89 panel report.

The impeachment proceedings stem from the controversial Phala Phala farm matter, in which a Section 89 independent panel found there was evidence suggesting that Ramaphosa may have violated the Constitution and committed serious misconduct in relation to the 2020 robbery at his Limpopo game farm.

In court papers, Ramaphosa argues that the impeachment process should be halted until the courts have ruled on his application to review and set aside the panel's findings.

The President's legal challenge seeks to overturn the Section 89 report, which laid the foundation for Parliament's impeachment inquiry.

Impeachment committee chairperson Makashule Gana confirmed that the committee had received the interdict application.

"We have received the interdict papers from President Ramaphosa's lawyers seeking to interdict the work of the impeachment committee. Our lawyers are studying the court papers, and we will comment thereafter," Gana said.

Gana indicated that the committee remains scheduled to meet on 24 June 2026 while it considers its response to the court application.