Western Cape Court hears Ramaphosa bid to pause impeachment

A two-day hearing began on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, at the Western Cape High Court to consider President Cyril Ramaphosa’s urgent application to halt an ongoing parliamentary impeachment inquiry against him. The president seeks to suspend the work of the National Assembly’s impeachment committee until a separate court review of the report that initiated the inquiry is concluded.

Ramaphosa filed the interdict application last month, arguing that allowing the impeachment process to proceed before the lawfulness of the underlying report is tested would cause him irreparable harm. His lawyers contend that the National Assembly’s rules are designed to protect a sitting president from a public impeachment hearing based on allegations deemed unfounded. The report in question was produced by an independent panel established under Section 89 of the constitution, which found Ramaphosa may have a case to answer regarding the theft of a large sum of U.S. currency from his Phala Phala farm in 2020.

The impeachment committee, chaired by Makashule Gana, was formed after a Constitutional Court ruling ordered that impeachment proceedings continue. The committee has opposed the president’s...