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National Assembly speaker Thoko Didiza has opted not to oppose President Cyril Ramaphosa’s urgent application to interdict parliament’s impeachment proceedings against him.
Instead, Didiza on Friday opted to file a notice to abide by the court outcome on the matter, after parties cited in the matter were given the deadline to submit their responses to Ramaphosa’s urgent action against parliament.
Ramaphosa wants the Western Cape High Court to interdict parliament from going ahead with impeachment proceedings against him, pending his judicial review application on the contents of the section 89 panel report on the theft of hundreds of thousands of US dollars from his Phala Phala farm in 2020.
The impeachment committee was set up by parliament following a damning Constitutional Court judgment that found the National Assembly had acted unlawfully when it voted against the section 89 panel report in late 2022.
Didiza has now left the decision to oppose Ramaphosa in court to Makashule Gana, the MP from the two-seat party Rise Mzansi who chairs the impeachment committee.
Gana also filed his notice to oppose Ramaphosa in court after he received majority support to do so from parties represented in the impeachment committee on Thursday.
Oral arguments in the matter are due to be heard before a full bench of Western Cape High Court on July 15 and 16.
During the Thursday meeting, the ANC did not support Gana’s decision to oppose the president.
It has since resolved to file a notice to be an intervening party in the court battle, since it was not cited by Ramaphosa in the unprecedented legal fight.
TimesLIVE
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