South African President Cyril Ramaphosa re-filed In the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday, he challenged a panel report alleging he breached the constitution during his previous “Farmgate” scandal.
In 2020, Thieves broke into President Ramaphosa's farm and stole more than half a million dollars from inside one of his sofas. In 2022, one of his personal security staff went to the police station to report a theft, starting the Farmgate scandal. Critics from opposition parties, including the Economic Freedom Fighters (EEF), accused him of money laundering, and said that if the money had been obtained legitimately, he would not be hiding it in a sofa nor attempting to cover up the crime by not reporting the stolen sums to the police. They responded, confirming that the amount stolen was $580,000 and came from legitimate sales of buffalo.
President Ramaphosa's political party, the African National Congress (ANC), has been the ruling party since the end of apartheid. In 1994. Given that Ramaphosa's re-election campaign ran over anti-corruption efforts as a whole, this sparked a national outcry and Call For resignation. The national parliament later deployed its own independent panel to review the incident. of panel report acknowledged the sale receipt of 20 buffalo, but said there were many questions regarding the transaction that remained unexplained, before finding that there was “substantial doubt as to the validity of the source” of the stolen funds and alleging presidential misconduct. President Ramaphosa immediately Challenge: Findings of the panel at the Constitutional Court of South Africa (ConCort).
Section 89 of the South African Constitution allows Parliament can impeach the President if he is found guilty of serious violations of law or misconduct. The report would naturally have given rise to an impeachment committee enquirer To investigate the President's actions and investigate the source of the money, why it was found in furniture, and why the theft was not reported to the police. However, the ANC majority blocked a parliament vote for an impeachment committee in December 2022.
Then EEF opposition party filed With ConCourt to revive impeachment proceedings. In May 2026, The Constitutional Court of South Africa (ConCourt) ruled that the ANC Violated the rights granted by section 89 of the Constitution When he used his majority voting power to stop an iAn impeachment inquiry against his own leader, and independent review committees, should be able to assess the President's handling of the cash theft.
In response, President Ramaphosa confirmed that he would not resign, but would retain his presidency for his entire final term, ending in 2029. revive His 2022 challenge to a parliamentary panel report in a separate court tomorrow. He were presented That the report was “seriously flawed”, misunderstood its mandate, and relied on inadmissible hearsay evidence regarding the theft, calling for the court to quash the panel's findings.