PHALA PANEL PUT ON NOTICE
A political party leader has said that should the panel find nothing against the president in a clear violation of the oath of office, his party would take the report on judicial review
AFRICAN Transformation Movement (ATM) president Vuyolwethu Zungula has warned judges in the panel that is probing President Cyril Ramaphosa on the Phala Phala debacle that they will themselves be impeached if they try to protect the president because of his powers that include appointing judges.
Zungula, who has earned accolades from the public for pushing the president to account on the matter, fired the warning shot to the panel during a public conversation that was hosted by Daily News editor Ayanda Mdluli under the Press Club banner on Monday.
Chaired by former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, the panel, which includes Judge Thokozile Masipa and advocate Mahlape Sello, was given 30 days to investigate whether the president has a case to answer in the farm saga.
While the panel wraps up its probe, Zungula cast doubt on whether it would execute its work without fear or favour given the vast powers of the president, who has the power to appoint judges. The panel report is expected next week.
Zungula said that should the panel find nothing against Ramaphosa, his party would take the report on judicial review, and if the report was set aside the panel would have to be impeached because the members themselves would have breached their oath of executing their work independently, without fear or favour.
Zungula said the panel would have erred if it found that the president had no case to answer, and warned that such a finding would spell disaster for the country because it would mean South Africa had drifted into a dictatorship where the head of state was no longer held accountable for his actions.
“We have no doubt that the president violated his oath of office in this matter,” said Zungula.
Practically, only Judge Masipa could be impeached on the matter since she is the only one currently practising as a judge of the court. Legal expert advocate Thulezwile Ndawo said ATM would not be able to impeach the panel or take the report under judicial review.
Ndawo said the panel’s work could only be appealed against if it found that the president had a case to answer for, but if it found nothing against him it would be the end of the story because its work was not appealable. He also cast doubt on the impeachment of a judge because of his or her decision, saying judges were protected by Section 17 of the Superior Court Act.
Zungula said there was something wrong with the country’s Constitution when the head of state has the power to appoint important state institution heads such as law enforcement agencies, which in turn were expected to make decisions against him. He said they were compromised as they found it difficult to act against their boss.
Another part of the Constitution that Zungula said was problematic was the power of unelected judges to have the final say on governance matters in the country against elected people like parliamentarians.
Zungula said he was also not buying the president’s response that he gave to the ANC National Executive Committee at the weekend when he said he could not be held accountable for not reporting the armed robbery to the police since he had asked Presidential Protection Unit head Wally Rhoode to open a case, which he did not do.