A DELEGATE holds a sign reading ‘Phala Phala’, referring to a theft that happened at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s farm with the same name, during the 55th National Conference of the ANC at NASREC in Johannesburg on December 16, 2022. The Constitutional Court on May 8, 2026, overturned a vote in Parliament that had quashed the opening of impeachment proceedings against Ramaphosa following the cash-heist scandal. The tone of Ramaphosa’s address in light of the court’s judgment left a bitter taste in the mouth, says the writer.
Prof. Bheki Mngomezulu
The Phala Phala matter is like an onion; the more you peel it, the more it stinks. It is like an inferno burning in the bush, where if the fire restarts each time the wind blows, it seems to have died down once the wind subsides.
For an incident that happened in February 2020, one would have expected that the issue would have been laid to rest by now. This did not happen.
When the National Assembly voted against accepting the report of the three-member Section 89 panel led by former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo in December 2022, it thought the issue had been permanently put to rest. The ANC had the majority in parliament. Its mistake was to assume that this majority would be retained indefinitely.
