The past three decades have tested this country thoroughly.
Its systems have been tested to the limits, no less, by the very people who were at the forefront, in leadership positions.
The political elite, who populate the executive, have been the main testers and stressors of SA’s systems.
These include the economic system, the political system, the legal system, law and order and the social system.
If we are committed to building our country, the data from the past 30 years is invaluable.
It covers all aspects of our society and points out weaknesses throughout our society.
During Thabo Mbeki’s era, parliament was constitutionally obligated to investigate the arms deal and hold the executive to account.
Instead, the ANC squashed the parliamentary investigation by the standing committee on public accounts.
Those were the days when the ANC could simply instruct its members in parliament to tow the line.
The powerful senior politicians implicated in the arms deal scandal included Jacob Zuma, Tony Yengeni, Joe Modise and others, most of whom were ANC leaders.
Parliament failed in its duty, right after the failure of the executive to do its duty.
“I ... respectfully want to make it clear that I will not resign.”
Those were President Cyril Ramaphosa’s words as he delivered an address to the nation on Monday night, stating that he will instead be taking on review parliament’s section 89 panel report on the Phala Phala scandal, which found there was prima facie evidence against him.
This follows renewed pressure on Ramaphosa about the scandal following last week’s Constitutional Court judgment reviving impeachment proceedings against him.
Speaking during a televised address at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, Ramaphosa insisted he had done nothing wrong and would continue serving as president while challenging the report in court.
His announcement came hours after parliament confirmed it had begun the process of establishing an impeachment committee and ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula called an urgent special meeting of the party’s national executive committee to deal with the fallout from the apex court ruling.
The Constitutional Court on Friday overturned parliament’s December 13 2022 decision to block the independent panel’s recommendation for a full impeachment inquiry into the Phala Phala matter.
I have always maintained that I have not violated my oath of office, nor have I committed any serious misconduct
The panel, chaired by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, had found prima facie evidence that Ramaphosa may have violated the constitution and committed serious misconduct linked to the 2020 theft of foreign currency from his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo.
It ruled that parliament acted unlawfully when it halted proceedings after the panel had found sufficient evidence warranting further investigation.
Pending amendments to parliamentary rules, the court ordered the matters “must be referred” to an impeachment committee for a full inquiry.
Parliament on Monday confirmed that National Assembly speaker Thoko Didiza had started the process of establishing the committee.
“Parliament reaffirms its respect for the judgment of the Constitutional Court and will act in full compliance with the order and directions of the court,” parliament said in a statement.
It said Didiza would determine the necessary procedural arrangements, timelines and institutional support measures.
Ramaphosa, however, signalled he would fight the matter rather than step aside.
“I have always maintained that I have not violated my oath of office, nor have I committed any serious misconduct,” he said.
“I respect the judgment of the Constitutional Court and the institutions of our democracy, but I also have a constitutional right to seek legal recourse where I believe there are grounds to do so.”
He added: “I therefore respectfully want to make it clear that I will not resign. To do so would be to pre-empt a process defined by the Constitution. To do so would be to give credence to a panel report that unfortunately has grave flaws. To do so would be to abdicate the responsibility that I assumed when I became President of the Republic.”
He said for him to resign, “it would be to give in to those who seek to reverse the renewal of our society, the rebuilding of our institutions and the prosecution of corruption”.
“I fully intend to continue serving the people of South Africa and to advance their interests. There is still much work to be done,” he said.
On Monday night, Daily Dispatch sister publication, TimesLIVE, reported that in a memo to NEC members, Mbalula said the party’s top leadership would meet urgently in Cape Town on Tuesday night to discuss the judgment and ANC response.
He said attendance was compulsory.
Senior ANC insiders said the governing party spent much of the weekend consulting legal experts on how to respond to the constitutional and political implications of the ruling.
Business Day reported that advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi was among those advising the ANC, while Didiza had also sought legal guidance on how parliament should structure the impeachment inquiry.
The Phala Phala scandal erupted after millions hidden inside furniture at Ramaphosa’s farm was stolen in 2020.
Ramaphosa has consistently maintained that the money was payment for buffalo purchased by a Sudanese businessman and that the transaction was handled by his farm manager while he was away on official business.
He also said the theft was reported to Maj-Gen Wally Rhoode, head of the presidential protection services.
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Daily Dispatch
Parliament failed again to hold Mbeki to account for his escapade with Aids denialism.
This country paid dearly for the failure of the executive to act in a manner that put South African lives first.
Parliament did virtually nothing about the matter, a glaring failure by any standards.
After shielding Zuma from the arms deal scandal, the ANC shielded him again during the Nkandla scandal.
It did its best to rubbish the duties of parliament, making a mockery of parliament and its intended purpose within our society.
By rendering it useless using its parliamentary dominance, it effectively incapacitated the entire system of governance.
So, the failure of the executive under Zuma’s leadership could not be arrested.
Its full damaging effect was absorbed by our society at great cost.
The cost was not merely financial; it was loss of talent, loss of a moral and cultural compass.
It was a loss of the soul of the country.
The entire period of state capture was enabled and encouraged by the failure of parliament to do its job.
Story audio is generated using AI
The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) has called on parliament to halt the impeachment inquiry into President Cyril Ramaphosa until his judicial review of the independent panel report into the Phala Phala theft is finalised.
According to the youth league president, Collen Malatji, it would be inconceivable for the two processes to run concurrently, as the outcome of the review application will have a direct impact on the impeachment process.
We have a strong view as the Youth League that the process of parliament must stop until the review is finalised.
Malatji was speaking just hours after Ramaphosa, in his address to the nation on Monday, announced that he would be taking on review the report by the Section 89 independent panel which found that there was a prima facie case of wrongdoing in the theft of more than R10m in foreign currency at his Limpopo farm, Phala Phala.
Ramaphosa addressed the nation after the Constitutional Court ruled that the parliamentary vote that blocked the report from being referred to the impeachment committee was unlawful. It said parliament was wrong to vote on the report before taking it through the committee.
According to Malatji, Ramaphosa’s decision to challenge the outcomes of the independent panel effectively halts any parliamentary process.
“We have a strong view as the Youth League that the process of parliament must stop until the review is finalised. Because what is on review is a report that must be discussed in that process,” said Malatji.
“Now, as the youth league, we are saying parliament must not rush. They must wait for the president to exhaust all those processes. If the courts are saying that the report is correct, then the president must enter that process. But for now, they must wait for the process of review to be finalised with the president.”
Although Ramaphosa did not suggest that he would seek to interdict the parliamentary process, Malatji was, however, adamant that parliament cannot continue with an impeachment process that is going to rely on a report that is being challenged.
“Now, we are saying that process must stop, then we allow the president to conclude the process that he has started. Then when he is done, that process when he is done will be determined, because you may find that there is not even a report,” said Malatji.
“What if the courts and everyone else say that the president is right? Then there will be nothing to discuss there in parliament. People might have to wait for the 2029 elections to get a majority. Some of the political parties are going down; they may not even have one seat by the time we get to 2029.”
TimesLIVE
Marikana also occurred during the Zuma era. This represented a horrific failure of the government to resolve a labour dispute.
This catastrophic failure, which led to the death of 34 miners, remains a bloody blot of the democratic era.
We thought massacres were a memory of the past, never to be revisited again, only to be rudely awakened by Marikana.
Here too, parliament failed to hold the executive to account.
The arms deal, Marikana and state capture all got commissions of inquiry which produced very little in terms of holding the executive accountable.
This ineffectiveness has damaged the confidence of South Africans in commissions of inquiry.
It is the courts which stood as the last line of defence in these high-profile and immensely damaging failures of the executive and parliament.
It was the North Gauteng High Court which overturned the report of the Seriti Commission, which found no wrongdoing in the arms deal.
It was the Constitutional Court that held Zuma to account for the Nkandla scandal, ordering him to repay money.
It was the Constitutional Court that ordered that Zuma should go to jail for contempt of court for refusing to appear before the Zondo commission.
It is the Constitutional Court which ruled that parliament failed to hold Zuma to account.
It is this same court that has ruled that parliament failed to do due diligence in its handling of the Phala Phala scandal.
Surely, the structural weaknesses unearthed by the Constitutional Court over time must be eliminated this time.
The GNU must earn its stripes.
