Western Cape High Court Pauses Parliament’s Section 89 Impeachment Process Against Ramaphosa

South Africa’s Western Cape High Court on Friday temporarily halted Parliament’s Section 89 impeachment process against President Cyril Ramaphosa, pausing the proceedings until the court decides his separate challenge to the independent panel report on the Phala Phala matter.

The immediate effect is that Parliament’s Section 89 impeachment committee cannot move ahead with public hearings for now, according to contemporaneous court coverage by TimesLIVE. The Presidency said Ramaphosa had asked the court to “temporarily interdict and pause Section 89 impeachment proceedings by Parliament” until his review application is finalized. That substantive review is scheduled to be heard from Sept. 2 to 4, according to TimesLIVE.

In a statement issued Friday, the Presidency said, “The President respects the ruling handed down today, Friday, 24 July 2026.” It added that Ramaphosa “reaffirms his respect of judicial independence and separation of powers enshrined in our Constitution. The President will continue to cooperate with and abide by processes of accountability.”

TimesLIVE reported that the urgent application was heard by a full bench of the Western Cape High Court and that the interim order was granted by a 2-1 majority.

Section 89 of South Africa’s Constitution sets out the process for removing a president from office. The impeachment track was active now because the Constitutional Court ruled on May 8, 2026, in Economic Freedom Fighters and Another v Speaker of the National Assembly and Others that the independent panel’s report on Phala Phala had to be referred to an impeachment committee under Section 89.

That order revived a process tied to the long-running Phala Phala controversy, which stems from a burglary at Ramaphosa’s game farm in Limpopo in February 2020. In November 2022, an independent panel chaired by retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo found that the information before it disclosed prima facie evidence that Ramaphosa may have committed serious violations, according to the Constitutional Court’s summary of the case background.

Ramaphosa’s separate review application challenging that panel report was filed in the Western Cape High Court on May 26, 2026, and was described in reporting by The Citizen as a 63-page filing. His bid to pause the parliamentary process was aimed at preventing the impeachment proceedings from advancing before the court has ruled on whether the panel report itself should stand.

Parliament had opposed that move. In a June 12 statement, Parliament said the impeachment committee had resolved to oppose Ramaphosa’s application for an interdict.

Friday’s order does not decide whether the Ngcobo panel report was lawful, nor does it permanently stop Parliament from pursuing impeachment. It is an interim interdict that puts the Section 89 process on hold while the court hears and decides Ramaphosa’s review challenge.