Parties involved in talks over the Phala Phala impeachment committee will move for National Assembly speaker Thoko Didiza to recuse herself from oversight of the process, ATM leader Vuyolwethu Zungula said on Monday.Zungula made the announcement outside a closed-door meeting in parliament, where parties were locked in last-minute negotiations over who should chair the National Assembly committee set up to deal with the revived section 89 process against President Cyril Ramaphosa.He said parties from inside and outside the GNU had agreed on several principles before the committee’s first sitting at 2pm. He said the concern stemmed from Didiza’s 2022 vote against processing the report, as well as her subsequent handling of the matter after the Constitutional Court judgment revived the process.The first, he said, was that the committee should not be chaired by an ANC MP.“We do not want that process on that committee to be chaired by someone in the ANC, because we view the ANC as having already taken a posture and a decision to protect the president,” Zungula said.He said the ANC’s decision to vote against processing the Phala Phala report in 2022 remained central to the parties’ objections.Court challengeZungula said parties had also agreed that Ramaphosa’s court challenge should not halt the committee’s work unless a court interdicts the process or sets aside the report.“All of the parties that were part of the meeting have agreed that the process must continue until either there is an interdict or the report has been set aside by a court of law,” he said.Zungula said the parties also agreed to seek Didiza’s recusal from overseeing the impeachment process.Several namesHe stressed that the parties were not calling for Didiza to be removed as speaker but wanted her to have no oversight role in the impeachment process.The talks came as lobbying intensified over who should chair the 31-member committee, which is expected to elect its chair when it meets in the Good Hope chamber at 2pm.Zungula said several names had been discussed, but parties still needed to consult senior officials before finalising their nominee.He said some MPs who attended the meeting were not senior enough in their parties to make a final decision without further approval.“I am unable to tell you who we are going to nominate as the chairperson,” he said.Zungula said his own name would not be put forward.“I can tell you it will not be me because I’m not available.”The name of the candidate is expected to be confirmed shortly before the committee sits. The chair race has become the first major test for the newly constituted committee. Earlier on Monday, leaders including UAT’s Wonderboy Mahlatsi, Rise Mzansi chief whip Makashule Gana and Bosa’s Mmusi Maimane were seen leaving the meeting while other parties remained behind to caucus.All three names have been mentioned in discussions regarding the chair, though Mahlatsi and Gana have emerged as the leading contenders.The ANC is understood to have favoured the chair of the committee on the presidency, Doris Mpapane, but opposition to an ANC chair has weakened her prospects.Parties aligned to the progressive caucus have been lobbying around Mahlatsi’s candidacy, while Gana has been discussed by some parties as a possible compromise candidate.The committee was established after the Constitutional Court revived the section 89 process linked to the Phala Phala matter.The ANC has nine members on the committee, the DA five and the MK party three. The EFF has two members, while several smaller parties — including Rise Mzansi, Bosa, the UDM, the ACDP, the ATM, Al Jama-ah, the NCC and the UAT — each have one seat.The committee’s immediate task is to elect a chair before it begins work on one of the most politically significant parliamentary processes of the seventh administration.