CAPE TOWN — Makashule Gana, the chairperson of the Phala Phala impeachment committee, has officially pushed back against President Cyril Ramaphosa’s legal attempt to stall the panel’s work. By filing a formal answering affidavit, Gana is directly challenging the president’s urgent court bid to halt the ongoing parliamentary proceedings.
Within his legal documents, Gana highlights what he describes as ambiguity surrounding the exact relief the president is requesting from the judiciary. He further contends that allowing the requested interdict would violate the foundational constitutional principle of the separation of powers.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has voiced strong reservations regarding the legal standing of the ad hoc panel. According to a recent statement from the opposition party, the committee lacks the necessary *locus standi*—the legal right to act on its own behalf—and therefore cannot independently incur legal costs. Instead, the DA insists that the National Assembly Speaker must be the one to safeguard the committee’s decisions and procedural integrity.
This position mirrors the assertions made by DA advocate Glynnis Breytenbach during the impeachment committee’s sitting last week. The party argues that the committee’s mandate is to give effect to the May 8 Constitutional Court judgment, but it must rely on the Speaker to champion the National Assembly’s role in that process.
This dynamic places National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza at the center of the procedural debate. Didiza, who concurrently chairs the rules committee, has already submitted a notice to abide by the court’s decision. She is also preparing an explanatory affidavit designed to help the judiciary clarify Parliament’s constitutional role in this dispute.
Additionally, the DA is closely examining Didiza’s approach within the rules committee concerning the adoption of “fit and proper” requirements for lawmakers. The party notes that these requirements were passed in a rules subcommittee populated by most of the main rules committee’s members, making Didiza’s stance on the matter a point of scrutiny.
The legal showdown is scheduled for July 15 and 16, where Ramaphosa is seeking an urgent interdict. The president’s goal is to temporarily suspend the impeachment process until his broader review application, known as the Part B application, is heard in September.