As the EFF and ATM prepare to oppose President Cyril Ramaphosa's urgent bid to halt Parliament's Phala Phala impeachment inquiry, the President insists he had 'no option' but to approach the courts, arguing that the Constitutional Court ruling has revived a report that could ultimately threaten his presidency.

Nearly four years after Parliament appeared to bury the Section 89 panel report into the Phala Phala theft, President Cyril Ramaphosa says a Constitutional Court judgment has brought it back to life.

The President is seeking an urgent court order to stop Parliament's impeachment committee from beginning its work, arguing that the court's ruling transformed a politically dormant report into the trigger for a process that could ultimately end his presidency.

In papers filed in the Western Cape High Court on Friday, 12 June, Ramaphosa argues that the Constitutional Court's May judgment fundamentally changed the legal status of the report compiled by a panel chaired by retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, which found prima facie evidence that he may have committed serious violations of the Constitution and the law in his handling of the theft of at least $580,000 in cash from his Phala Phala farm.

Those findings nearly cost Ramaphosa his presidency in 2022 before the National Assembly voted against establishing an impeachment committee.

How the report was revived

According to Ramaphosa, the Constitutional Court's ruling has now revived the report's significance and given it direct legal consequences.

The court found, in a case brought by the...