Party whips agree on 31-member impeachment panel

The National Assembly’s Chief Whips’ Forum has agreed on the composition of the section 89 committee that will determine whether there is prima facie evidence to institute impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa over the Phala Phala scandal.

The committee will consist of 31 members, with the ANC securing the lion’s share of representation.

TimesLIVE has learnt that parliament presented two options to party whips during a meeting on Wednesday afternoon.

The proposal ultimately adopted by parties allocates 19 seats to the four largest parties in parliament — the ANC, DA, MK Party and EFF — while the remaining 12 seats will be shared among smaller parties.

Under the agreed formula, the ANC will hold nine seats on the committee, the DA five, the MK Party three and the EFF two.

The PAC and GOOD will not be represented on the panel, with parties citing potential conflicts of interest due to their participation in Ramaphosa’s executive, while each holds only one seat in the National Assembly.

According to the document, the four largest parties account for 87.22% of parliamentary seats

Parliament argued that the composition was guided by National Assembly rule 154(1), which states that parties are entitled to representation in committees substantially proportional to their representation in parliament.

“This rule is implemented except where the rules prescribe the composition or where the number of members in the committee does not allow for all parties to be represented,” it said.

The document presented to the party whips further stated that rule 129K provides that the impeachment committee consists of the number of Assembly members determined by the speaker, subject to rule 154, while also requiring representation of all parties.

According to the document, the four largest parties account for 87.22% of parliamentary seats.

“The effect of giving each party represented in the Assembly a minimum of one member to enable participation by all is that it skews the proportional strength of the house in favour of smaller parties. This is only mitigated with a larger composition of the committee with a limited proportional feature. Pure proportional representation will completely exclude smaller parties,” parliament said.

National Assembly speaker Thoko Didiza is understood to have informed the meeting that she would formally notify parties before the end of the day that the process was commencing, and would request nominations for MPs to serve on the committee.

The speaker ... must be the first one to challenge any attempt that seeks to render parliament useless in its constitutional mandate of holding the executive accountable and conducting the necessary oversight for all the checks and balances to remain in place

—  Vuyo Zungula, ATM

A second proposal presented — and ultimately rejected — would have created a smaller 14-member committee. Under that model, the ANC would have received five seats, the DA three, the MK Party two and the EFF one, with the remaining parties sharing three seats collectively.

The development comes ahead of the ANC national executive committee meeting expected to deliberate on the matter on Wednesday afternoon.

Ramaphosa announced on Monday that he would take the independent panel report on judicial review after the Constitutional Court overturned parliament’s December 2022 decision blocking the impeachment process from proceeding.

Motion of no confidence request

The panel, chaired by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, found there was prima facie evidence that Ramaphosa may have violated the constitution and committed serious misconduct relating to the 2020 theft of foreign currency from his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo.

ATM’s Vuyo Zungula has already written to Didiza requesting that a motion of no confidence against the president be tabled. Zungula has emerged as one of the most persistent political figures pursuing parliamentary accountability over Phala Phala, with the ATM and the EFF securing victory in the apex court last Friday.

In a statement following Ramaphosa’s announcement that he would challenge the report, Zungula warned against attempts to weaken parliament’s oversight role.

“It is deeply concerning that a judicial review is now being used in a manner that appears to challenge the wisdom and authority of the judiciary, particularly when this matter was already subjected to prolonged delay over a period of years,” he said.

“The speaker of the National Assembly now carries a historic responsibility to defend the integrity of parliament. She must be the first one to challenge any attempt that seeks to render parliament useless in its constitutional mandate of holding the executive accountable and conducting the necessary oversight for all the checks and balances to remain in place.”

He said political parties committed to accountability should resist attempts to frustrate parliament’s constitutional obligations through legal or procedural delays.

TimesLIVE