African Transformation Movement MP Vuyolwethu Zungula has fired a broadside at President Cyril Ramaphosa, rejecting his court bid to have the Phala Phala panel's report reviewed and set aside.
Image: Phando Jikelo / RSA Parliament
African Transformation Movement MP Vuyolwethu Zungula has fired a broadside at President Cyril Ramaphosa, rejecting his court bid to have the Phala Phala panel's report reviewed and set aside.
In a letter sent on Wednesday and seen by IOL, Zungula, acting through his lawyers, said Ramaphosa’s move was a direct attempt to dodge accountability over the millions in cash found at his Phala Phala farm about six years ago.
He argued Ramaphosa's application was “ill-founded” and a “Stalingrad approach” meant to block a process the Constitutional Court revived earlier this month.
Ramaphosa went to the Western Cape High Court on Monday asking for the Ngcobo panel’s report to be declared unlawful.
The panel found he may have committed a serious violation of the Constitution and exposed himself to a conflict of interest over the theft of $580,000 in cash found at his Limpopo farm in 2020.
He also said he would seek an interdict if the National Assembly started an impeachment inquiry before his case was decided.
Zungula is listed as the fifth respondent because he is one of the MPs who pushed for Parliament to adopt the panel’s findings.
“It would be intolerable and a travesty if the National Assembly were to proceed with an impeachment process triggered by the panel’s report, at a time when a challenge to the lawfulness and validity of that report is pending,” he said in his affidavit.
Zungula’s legal team said that would breach Parliament’s duty to hold the president accountable and could clash with the Constitutional Court’s order.
“Zungula is of the view that your client’s application is ill-founded and constitutes a Stalingrad approach,” the letter read.
“Your client clearly wishes to delay being subjected to a fair and constitutional process. This is by its nature untenable and undesirable.”
The Constitutional Court ruled earlier this month that Parliament acted unlawfully in December 2022 when it voted against adopting the panel’s report.
The court ordered the report be referred to an impeachment committee.
Parliament has since appointed a 31-member committee, but no impeachment vote has been held.
Zungula’s lawyers want the review application heard quickly so the committee can proceed.
They proposed dates in August and set out a timetable for filings.
They also warned postponing the inquiry could amount to contempt of the Constitutional Court order, and criticised Ramaphosa for threatening to interdict Parliament.
“It is unprecedented and entirely inappropriate for one organ of state, in particular the President, to attempt to interdict the proceedings of another, being the National Assembly,” the letter stated.
Zungula’s attorneys asked for a response by next week Monday.
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