Impeachment committee meets today to decide if it will hit back at Ramaphosa’s court bid

By Anita Dangazele

• Ramaphosa filed an urgent court interdict on Friday to halt the Impeachment Committee’s work until at least mid-September 2026.

• Committee chairperson Makashule Gana has taken legal advice and will share it with the 31-member committee at Thursday’s meeting.

Parliament’s Impeachment Committee is meeting on Thursday 18 June to decide how it will respond to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s bid to freeze its work before it has properly started.

Ramaphosa served Parliament with an urgent court interdict application on Friday. He is asking the court to halt the committee’s proceedings until after September 2026. The interdict hearing is set for 15 and 16 July.

The timing is deliberate. Ramaphosa has a separate review application before the Western Cape High Court asking it to throw out the Section 89 Phala Phala report that triggered the impeachment inquiry.

Judge Nathan Erasmus has fast-tracked that hearing to 2 to 4 September 2026. A successful interdict would park the committee until that review is decided, buying him roughly two months.

The Impeachment Committee has met only once since it was set up, to elect chairperson Makashule Gana. It was due to begin setting its terms of reference and appointing an evidence leader next week. Instead, Gana says the committee will first hear from its legal advisors on the interdict.

Ramaphosa’s legal argument is that he will suffer serious harm if the inquiry proceeds while the court has not yet ruled on his challenge to the report.

Opposition parties reject that.

The EFF said the interdict confirms Ramaphosa will “exhaust every legal and political avenue to delay accountability.”

The ATM’s legal team said the application is unnecessary and that “one day should be sufficient” to dismiss it.

ActionSA has called it a textbook delay and pressured National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza to oppose it.

The committee’s decision on Thursday will determine whether Parliament fights back or waits.

Pictured above: Parliament’s Impeachment Committee chair Makashule Gana.

Image source: Parliament of the Republic of South Africa