Johannesburg – All eyes are on the Constitutional Court, which will deliver judgment today in the Phala Phala farm robbery in which two applicants argue that Parliament failed to act when faced with prima facie findings of possible presidential misconduct.
This matter concerns the National Assembly’s handling of the Section 89 Independent Panel Report into allegations arising from the February 2020 burglary at President Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo.
The applicants, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the African Transformation Movement (ATM), contend that Parliament failed in its constitutional duty by voting against adopting the report and declining to initiate an impeachment inquiry.
The Independent Panel, chaired by retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, examined evidence relating to about US$580 000 allegedly kept undeclared at Phala Phala farm, the circumstances of the theft, subsequent investigations, and the President’s responses.
The panel concluded that the information before it disclosed a prima facie case that the President may have committed serious violations of sections 96(2)(a) and (b) of the Constitution, as well as elements of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.
However, Parliament, by a majority, declined to act on the panel’s findings, prompting the EFF and ATM to challenge the matter in the Constitutional Court.
The respondents countered that the National Assembly retains political discretion in such matters and that no obligation exists to adopt every panel report.
Today, 8 May 2026, the Constitutional Court ruling will determine whether Parliament’s conduct was rational, lawful, and consistent with its oversight obligations.
