By Bonface Mulyungi
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa filed an urgent court application on Friday to try to stop a parliamentary impeachment process from starting to probe allegations related to his “Farmgate” scandal, court documents showed.
Ramaphosa wants the high court to first make a decision on a separate application he made to set aside an independent panel’s misconduct findings over the scandal, in which bundles of cash were stolen from a sofa on his farm in 2020.
The president said $580,000 in cash was stolen and it was proceeds from the sale of buffaloes, but the episode raised questions about why the money was hidden in furniture and whether he had declared it. Ramaphosa has denied wrongdoing.
South Africa’s constitutional court revived impeachment proceedings against Ramaphosa last month, finding that a parliamentary vote to stop the process in 2022 was invalid.
The high court is due to hear his case against the misconduct findings from September 2 to 4.
Ramaphosa, 73, has been head of state since 2018 and his second presidential term is due to end in 2029.
Farmgate has been a major embarrassment for him as he came to power on a pledge to fight corruption and clean up the image of his African National Congress (ANC) party.
But political analysts expect him to survive if the impeachment process goes to a vote in parliament.
