'You can't dodge accountability': Ramaphosa under fire in Phala Phala court showdown

Pesident Cyril Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa's fight to stop Parliament's Phala Phala impeachment inquiry ran into opposition from four political corners and probing questions from a full bench on the first day of argument in the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday.

Ramaphosa's counsel, Advocate Wim Trengove SC, argued alone against a line-up of some of SA's most senior silks, with the MK Party mocking the application outside court as a waste of time.

Ramaphosa wants the impeachment committee barred from starting its public inquiry until the same court has decided whether the report that triggered it should be set aside, a review set down for September 2 to 4.

That report, by an independent panel chaired by former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, found in November 2022 that Ramaphosa had a case to answer over the foreign currency stolen from his Phala Phala game farm in 2020, and its revival by the Constitutional Court in May set the impeachment machinery in motion.