South Africa's parliamentary impeachment process against President Cyril Ramaphosa has ground to a virtual standstill, with lawmakers acknowledging that no report has been placed before the National Assembly despite 10 months having passed since the Constitutional Court's landmark ruling in July 2025. During a heated parliamentary session on May 21, members of the rules committee debated how to expedite proceedings that were originally intended to be swift.
The Constitutional Court revived the impeachment process after the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) successfully challenged parliament's earlier decision to reject an independent panel's recommendation that Ramaphosa face an impeachment hearing. The court declared invalid the vote that had allowed the ruling ANC's parliamentary majority to shield the president from scrutiny over the so-called Farmgate scandal, in which large sums of foreign cash were stolen from a sofa at Ramaphosa's private game farm.
Parliamentary sources indicated that if the process were to begin from scratch, it could take an additional three to six months just to establish the procedural framework, factoring in the appointment of lawyers, the formation of a committee, and the various legal steps required for a presidential removal proceeding. Several lawmakers urged that the shortest possible path be found, suggesting that existing work from the rules committee and earlier impeachment proceedings should be built upon rather than discarded.
Complicating matters further is the prospect of legal challenges from the presidency. Ramaphosa has indicated he will not resign and plans to legally contest the independent panel's findings of preliminary misconduct. Should the president seek an interdict or judicial review of the proceedings, the timeline could extend significantly, creating what one lawmaker described as a long and winding road with no clear end in sight.
The impeachment process requires the establishment of a specially constituted committee to investigate the allegations in detail. If that committee recommends removal, parliament must then vote on the president's fate, with a two-thirds majority required for impeachment to pass. With the ANC still holding a significant number of seats despite its weakened position, the political arithmetic remains a critical factor in determining whether the process will ultimately succeed or serve primarily as a mechanism of accountability and public scrutiny.