South Africa’s highest court has reinstated impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa, reigniting a scandal dubbed ‘Farmgate’ that centres on a substantial sum of foreign currency stolen from his farmhouse sofa in 2020.
The ruling overturns a 2022 move by Mr Ramaphosa’s political party to block the formation of an impeachment committee.
The incident sparked widespread questions regarding the origin of the large cash sum, its declaration status, and why it was stored in furniture rather than a bank.
Mr Ramaphosa, in power since 2018, has consistently denied any wrongdoing. He maintains the money originated from the sale of buffaloes at his game ranch.
The court deemed the attempt to obstruct the impeachment process unconstitutional, mandating the committee’s establishment. Mr Ramaphosa, in a statement, affirmed his respect for the court’s judgment.
Political analysts said there was still a long way to go in the impeachment process and Ramaphosa was likely to survive if the matter was put to a vote in the lower house of parliament.
An impeachment vote requires a two-thirds majority to pass, and even though Ramaphosa’s African National Congress (ANC) party lost its majority in a 2024 election, it still has well over one-third of the seats in the National Assembly.
Farmgate broke when a former intelligence official walked into a police station and alleged Ramaphosa had tried to cover up the theft of about $4 million in foreign currency stashed at his Phala Phala game farm.
Ramaphosa, a wealthy businessman before he became president, admitted there had been a break-in but said the thieves only stole $580,000.
An independent panel of experts in 2022 found preliminary evidence Ramaphosa may have committed misconduct, which led some opponents to call for his resignation.
Lawson Naidoo, executive secretary of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution, said the impeachment committee’s work would be more detailed, likely taking several months.
The opposition party that brought the case to the constitutional court, the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), wrote to the speaker of the National Assembly on Friday asking her to set up the impeachment committee immediately.
“I don’t think the (panel’s) report is going … any further (towards) impeachment,” political analyst Oscar van Heerden said.
“Ramaphosa still (enjoys) majority support (in his party), and they are not going to want to upset things by (taking) this to its logical conclusion,” he said, adding that neither would the ANC’s key coalition partners like the Democratic Alliance.
