ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula has dismissed Build One South Africa leader Mmusi Maimane’s bid to chair the parliamentary committee investigating the Phala Phala scandal, saying the party will not support him.
Image: ANC / X
The ANC has poured cold water on any prospect of Mmusi Maimane chairing Parliament’s impeachment committee probing the Phala Phala scandal, with Fikile Mbalula dismissing him as a “man with one seat” and declaring the governing party would not back his appointment.
Mbalula said the ANC is not entering the impeachment committee process to defend President Cyril Ramaphosa, but is instead guided by the Constitutional Court’s ruling.
This comes after BOSA leader Mmusi Maimane raised concerns that the process could be compromised if an ANC member is chosen to chair the committee.
Mbalula said the ANC will not back Maimane’s bid for the position.
“We are not going into the impeachment process to defend. We are going into the impeachment guided by the ruling of the constitutional court and follow all matters step by step up to the latter. “If at the end the president has to appear before the impeachment committee, we have acted, even in the adult committee, we have acted without fear or favor against our own.”
“Where does this thing that Mmusi Maimane talks about and formulate an unfounded principle? I mean, Maimane has got ambitions to chair the committee. It's all in his own right. He must come forward about it, and then I can tell you now we will not support it.”
Mbalula said Maimane was seeking to chair the committee.
“Mmusi Maimane is just formulating his own rules. I know he wants to chair the committee.”
“He has made an overchoice to us, a man with one seat (in Parliament) We can also argue. We have given him more than what he can chew in that parliament, appropriation committee, and one seat.”
“It is not that he did not even sign a statement of intent in the government of national unity. We gave him a seat just on the basis of an understanding. We are not enslaved to Mmusi Maimane.”
“We are a principled party. We agreed to give him that seat because of the fact of the matter that it is in the public interest to do that. Who is he to tell us today that we cannot chair a committee? He cannot.”
Mbalula added that Maimane was challenging the ANC’s role in parliamentary processes.
“Everybody has got interest. Don't want to blackmail the ANC.”
“Those who want Ramaphosa to appear before the impeachment committee for him to be impeached, they want to overthrow the ANC,” he said.
“The committee was established following a Constitutional Court judgment directing Parliament to determine whether there are valid grounds to recommend President Cyril Ramaphosa’s removal from office over the theft of more than $580,000 at his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo in 2020.
It will hold its first meeting on Monday to elect a chairperson and begin proceedings.
The 31-member committee includes nine ANC representatives, five from the Democratic Alliance, three from the MK Party, two from the EFF, and 12 members from smaller parties, each holding one seat.
According to reports, the ANC is expected to nominate Doris Mpapane, who chairs Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on the Presidency.
Opposition parties have argued that the chairperson should come from a smaller party to ensure neutrality.
Earlier on Monday, IOL News reported that BOSA spokesperson Roger Solomons said the committee should be led by someone with legal competence and a strong understanding of the issues.
“(The chair should be someone) in pursuit of getting the facts, and not partisan. The question on the table is whether there's a serious breach of the Constitution, and that must be the (central) question, not whether or not they want the president to be impeached. For example, the ANC would never want its own president to be impeached.”
“It cannot be chaired by the ANC or, in particular, members who are sitting within the GNU. We think that the opposition must be able to chair that,” Solomons said.
When asked if Maimane would be open to chairing the committee, Solomons said he would be available for the role, pointing to his parliamentary experience and ability to work across parties.
Last week, Ramaphosa approached the Western Cape High Court to challenge the Phala Phala independent panel report that found he may have violated the Constitution and abused his position.
Ramaphosa wants the report scrapped, especially the section recommending that Parliament consider impeachment proceedings against him.
The report, compiled in 2022 by an independent panel chaired by former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, concluded there was prima facie evidence that Ramaphosa may have committed serious misconduct linked to the Phala Phala farm scandal.
But Ramaphosa said the panel got it wrong.
In court papers, the president argued the panel relied on hearsay, misunderstood its powers and used questionable evidence to reach damaging conclusions.
“Save for the limited evidence I introduced in my response, there was no evidence before the panel,” Ramaphosa said.
He also questioned how confidential Namibian police documents and an audio recording ended up before the panel, warning the information may have been obtained unlawfully.
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