National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza said that she would first study Friday’s court ruling that Parliament halt the public hearings of impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa, before commenting on its implications.
The court prohibited Parliament from proceeding with the Section 89 inquiry until such time as the court had considered Ramaphosa’s application to review the parliamentary report that Didiza referred to the impeachment committee in May, on the instruction of the Constitutional Court.
Ramaphosa faces impeachment over the events that unfolded at his farm Phala Phala in 2020, when US dollars were stolen from a couch on his farm.
Most opposition parties were dissatisfied with Friday’s court outcome that defended the president’s right not to suffer reputational harm, until the court had considered the veracity of Parliament’s Phala Phala report.
Parliament Spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said: “The speaker will, after due consideration of the judgment and its reasons, determine the appropriate way forward for the work currently before the National Assembly, in accordance with the Constitution, the court’s order and the rules of the National Assembly.”