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Opposition party ATM has launched an urgent direct appeal to the Constitutional Court seeking to overturn last week’s Western Cape high court judgment halting public impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa.The court acceded to Ramaphosa’s application for a temporary stay of his impeachment pending the hearing of another application to set aside the findings of a damning independent panel report.The panel headed by retired chief justice Sandile Ngcobo found the president might have violated the constitution in the foreign currency theft scandal at his Phala Phala farm. The ATM application, lodged on Saturday, asks the top court to hear the matter urgently during the week of August 10-14 and to grant leave for a direct appeal. MP Vuyo Zungula and the ATM also want the Constitutional Court to replace the high court’s order with one dismissing Ramaphosa’s application and ordering him to pay costs.The president’s review application for the panel report is expected to be heard early in September.Ramaphosa, National Assembly speaker Thoko Didiza, the chair of parliament’s impeachment committee, the EFF, MK party and United Africans Transformation are cited as respondents.In his founding affidavit, Zungula, who sits on the impeachment committee that was meant to investigate the matter, argues the high court judgment created legal uncertainty by preventing parliament from fulfilling its constitutional obligation to hold the president to account.He said the appeal raises important constitutional issues and contains no disputes of fact.The applicant contends the majority judgment is impermissibly vague because it interdicted a “public impeachment hearing” without explaining what that term means.The party argues this leaves the impeachment committee uncertain about whether it may continue its work behind closed doors, question the president privately or require written responses from him.Zungula argues the order is inconsistent with section 59 of the constitution, which requires the National Assembly and its committees to conduct their business in a public manner.He further contends the high court granted relief Ramaphosa did not seek in his notice of motion and that the parties were not afforded an opportunity to address the court on the terms of the order before it was made.The application also argues the judgment departs from previous decisions involving attempts to interdict parliamentary impeachment processes, including litigation concerning former public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane.According to the applicants, the judgment created a precedent that could allow future presidents or other constitutional office-bearers to halt impeachment proceedings on the basis of potential reputational harm.Zungula further argues the high court’s order undermines the constitutional principles of parliamentary accountability and the separation of powers by restricting how parliament conducts its impeachment proceedings.He said the constitutional court should intervene because the judgment has immediate and long-term constitutional consequences if allowed to stand.Business Day
