South Africa’s highest court on Friday set aside a parliamentary vote that had rejected a report finding credible evidence of wrongdoing by President Cyril Ramaphosa related to a long-running cash scandal, a ruling that could move the case into impeachment proceedings. The Constitutional Court’s decision means the report must now be referred to an impeachment committee for further investigation, Chief Justice Mandisa Maya said, raising the likelihood of a formal vote on whether to impeach Ramaphosa.
The case centers on allegations involving money that Ramaphosa said he had reported stolen at his Phala Phala game farm, and a later finding that lawmakers were urged to reject by voting down the report’s recommendations. Ramaphosa’s earlier bid to avoid the process succeeded in 2022, when lawmakers from his African National Congress voted to reject a scathing report that recommended a full investigation into why he said $580,000 in cash had been stashed in a couch before it was reported missing.
Friday’s constitutional ruling effectively reverses that parliamentary outcome, with the court directing the process toward an impeachment committee. Maya said that “In the event that the panel (of inquiry) concludes that sufficient evidence exists, the matter must be referred to the impeachment committee,” language the court used to describe the next procedural step if the panel finds enough evidence.
Julius Malema, leader of the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters, urged immediate action after the decision, calling for Ramaphosa to resign and for impeachment proceedings to begin. Malema said he believed “Ramaphosa is going to jail,” adding that the impeachment process would produce evidence that would leave no way for Ramaphosa to avoid consequences, according to his remarks to a crowd of supporters after the ruling.
Malema’s party was among the opposition formations that brought the matter to court, arguing that ANC lawmakers used their parliamentary majority to shield Ramaphosa from accountability. The opposition said the lawmakers’ vote rejecting the report should not have stood, and that the report should have proceeded to the investigative stage.
Ramaphosa has denied any wrongdoing, describing the cash as proceeds from the sale of buffalos at his farm. He said he reported the theft to the head of his security, but a parliamentary inquiry that examined the incident rejected his account and recommended a full investigation by an impeachment committee.
The cash scandal has remained a political problem for Ramaphosa for years, with opposition parties pressing for his resignation. The president previously survived a motion to face impeachment proceedings in 2022 during a period when the ANC still held a parliamentary majority; the ANC lost that majority in the 2024 elections for the first time since coming to power in 1994, and Ramaphosa is currently serving what he described as his last term as president.
Ramaphosa has also faced other accusations, including tax evasion, money laundering and breaching currency laws, with questions raised about why money from a legitimate business would have been hidden in a couch. His spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, said Friday that Ramaphosa had been consistent in providing full assistance to inquiries into the matter and would continue to do so, adding that “President Ramaphosa maintains that no person is above the law and that any allegations should be subjected to due process without fear, favour or prejudice.”
The report that prompted the latest court action followed prior probes, including two investigations by the South African Reserve Bank and a public watchdog, which cleared Ramaphosa of wrongdoing, according to the account given in the report that the court revived.