Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the judgment 'is not a blow to the President' and Ramaphosa's legal team would weigh its options.

The Constitutional Court on Wednesday dismissed President Cyril Ramaphosa's bid to seek direct access to challenge the findings of the bruising Section 89 Independent Panel report into the Phala Phala scandal.

The highest court in the land refused to grant the President direct access to the Constitutional Court to challenge the report's findings against him, concluding that "no case has been made out for exclusive jurisdiction or direct access and the main application must be dismissed. Consequently, the application to intervene falls to be dismissed."

The court decided not to award costs.

Crucially, the matter can still be taken to a lower court, meaning the President will have to approach the high court to challenge the report findings.

In briefing the media on Wednesday, the spokesperson for the Presidency, Vincent Magwenya, explained that the Constitutional Court judgment dealt with, "what [he] would call, a procedural matter with respect to the President seeking direct access to the Constitutional Court. The judgment does not pronounce on the merits of the case."

The judgment, Magwenya maintained, "is not a blow to...