Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president is once again facing mounting political pressure after the country’s Constitutional Court revived an impeachment process linked to the controversial Phala Phala cash scandal.
The ruling, delivered on May 8, reopened one of the biggest political controversies of Ramaphosa’s presidency and reignited debate over whether he violated the constitution in his handling of the theft of foreign currency from his private game farm.
Read also: South Africa’s Ramaphosa defies resignation calls as Parliament prepares probe
The scandal centres on a large amount of US dollars discovered hidden inside furniture at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in Limpopo province after a burglary in 2020. The matter first became public in 2022 and quickly developed into a major political crisis that threatened Ramaphosa’s future as both president and leader of the ruling African National Congress.
Although Ramaphosa has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and insists he will not resign, the latest court ruling has pushed the issue back into the spotlight at a politically sensitive moment for the ANC ahead of local elections later this year.
How the scandal began
According to Bloomberg, the controversy erupted in June 2022 after former South African spy chief Arthur Fraser accused Ramaphosa of concealing the theft of millions of dollars from the Phala Phala farm.
Fraser alleged that the money had been hidden inside a sofa at the property and that the burglary, which took place in February 2020, was never properly reported to police.
He also claimed that presidential security personnel illegally detained and interrogated suspects linked to the theft.
At the time, Fraser was regarded as a close ally of former South African president Jacob Zuma, a long time political rival of Ramaphosa.
The allegations immediately triggered investigations involving the police, South Africa’s tax authorities, the central bank and anti corruption agencies.
Parliament also established an independent panel led by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo to determine whether there were sufficient grounds for impeachment proceedings against the president.
What the independent panel found
According to Bloomberg, the independent panel concluded in 2022 that Ramaphosa may have committed serious misconduct and that parliament had enough evidence to consider an impeachment inquiry.
The report said the president may have exposed himself to a conflict between his constitutional responsibilities and his private business interests.
The panel also questioned the source of the foreign currency stolen from the farm and raised concerns over how the theft was handled.
According to Bloomberg, the report suggested there appeared to be a “deliberate intention” to avoid a transparent police investigation into the burglary.
The findings represented one of the gravest political threats Ramaphosa had faced since becoming president in 2018.
Read also: South Africa court ruling revives pressure on Ramaphosa over $580,000 cash scandal
Ramaphosa’s defence
Ramaphosa denied any violation of the law or his oath of office.
According to Bloomberg, the president disputed claims that $4 million had been stolen, saying instead that the money came from the sale of 20 buffaloes to a Sudanese businessman for about $580,000.
He said the cash had been stored at the farm because the animals had not yet been collected.
According to his explanation, the money was initially kept in a safe before being moved into a sofa in a spare room by a farm manager who believed it would be safer there.
Ramaphosa also maintained that the theft had been reported to the head of the Presidential Protection Service while he was travelling abroad at the time of the incident.
The president later told the public he intended to repay the money.
How parliament blocked impeachment
According to Bloomberg, Ramaphosa briefly considered resigning after the panel’s findings became public in 2022.
However, ANC lawmakers used the party’s parliamentary majority to vote against adopting the panel’s recommendations, effectively blocking impeachment proceedings from moving forward.
Soon afterwards, Ramaphosa secured a second term as ANC leader, strengthening his political position ahead of South Africa’s 2024 general election.
He also launched a legal challenge against the panel’s report, arguing that its findings relied heavily on hearsay evidence and exceeded the panel’s mandate.
That legal challenge was later withdrawn after parliament voted to dismiss the report.
Why the scandal has returned
The issue returned to the forefront after opposition parties, including the Economic Freedom Fighters and the African Transformation Movement, challenged parliament’s decision before the Constitutional Court.
The court ruled that parliament acted unlawfully when it rejected the panel’s findings without proper consideration.
As a result, the report must now be referred back to parliament’s impeachment committee for further review.
While the ruling does not automatically remove Ramaphosa from office, it has revived a politically damaging scandal that many within the ANC had hoped was over.
Can Ramaphosa survive the pressure?
Ramaphosa has remained defiant despite renewed criticism from opposition parties and some political activists.
In a televised address quoted by Bloomberg, the president said resigning would amount to accepting the conclusions of what he described as a deeply flawed report.
He also plans to revive his legal challenge against the independent panel’s findings.
Even if impeachment proceedings move forward, Ramaphosa still appears to have strong protection in parliament.
The ANC controls about 40 percent of parliamentary seats, meaning opposition parties would struggle to secure the two thirds majority required to remove a sitting president from office.
Still, the scandal has resurfaced at a difficult time for both Ramaphosa and the ANC.
In the 2024 general election, the ANC lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid, reflecting growing public anger over corruption,unemployment, poor economic growth and failing public services.
Political analysts believe the renewed controversy could deepen divisions within the ANC ahead of the party’s next leadership conference in 2027, when Ramaphosa is expected to step down as party leader after completing his second term.
The scandal could also place pressure on coalition partners such as the Democratic Alliance, which joined South Africa’s coalition government after the 2024 election.
Ramaphosa’s political legacy at stake
Ramaphosa has long been regarded as one of South Africa’s most influential political figures.
A former trade union leader turned businessman, he played a central role in negotiations that ended apartheid and later helped draft South Africa’s democratic constitution.
Since taking office in 2018, he has attempted to position himself as a reform minded leader focused on tackling corruption, attracting investment and rebuilding state institutions weakened during Zuma’s presidency.
But the Phala Phala scandal continues to overshadow those efforts and now threatens to become one of the defining controversies of his presidency.
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