THE Parliamentary committee that is considering removing President Cyril Ramaphosa from office is hitting the ground running as it will oppose an urgent court request to stop it from doing its work.
Ramaphosa went to court demanding an order to stop working until his request to dismiss the report of the team led by Judge Sandile Ngcobo, which found that there may be laws he broke by the discovery of US dollars in his farm in Limpopo, Phala Phala.
His request to dismiss Ngcobo’s report is expected to be heard in court in September this year. Yesterday at the Parliamentary committee meeting, Chairman Mr. Makashule Gana, said they decided to oppose Ramaphosa’s urgent request.
He said that many members said unanimously that this decision should be opposed, and the Speaker of Parliament should be persuaded to be part of opposing this request.
“As chairman, I have committed myself that if the Speaker drags his feet and does not take part in opposing the president’s request, I will continue to oppose it. We have received legal advice that has authorized us to continue opposing the president’s request,” he said.
He said the president’s request regarding the committee is expected to be heard at the Western Cape High Court on July 15 and 16.
“The committee was established according to the order of the Constitutional Court which said that Ngcobo’s report must go to this committee to be considered according to the terms of Parliament. We will continue our work as a committee until the court’s decision is issued to stop us. Next Wednesday (June 24) we will have a committee meeting where we will look at the issue of the people who will be leading evidence in the committee,” said Gana.
He said today is the deadline for them to oppose Ramaphosa’s request to stop the committee. Legal adviser, Advocate William Mokhare SC, told the committee members that they have the right to continue to oppose Ramaphosa’s request.
He said that they cannot choose whether to continue or not continue to oppose the request because it is the duty of the Parliament to do this in an instant. Groups including MKP, EFF, ActionSA, BOSA and ATM supported the opposition to the decision. The DA said that it should be the Speaker who opposes the request and not the committee. The Patriotic Alliance and Al Jama-ah, did not support the objection of the request and the ANC said that any decision that will be issued by the court should not be respected.