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South Africa's top court revives impeachment process against president

Court orders parliament to establish impeachment committee over 'Farmgate' scandal; Ramaphosa denies wrongdoing, maintains support within ANC and coalition partners

By Reuters Published: 2026-05-08T17:10:00+04:00 2 min read
Chief Justice Mandisa Maya goes trough the judgement as South Africa's Constitutional Court gives the ruling on whether the parliament failed to hold President Cyril Ramaphosa to account over the "Farmgate" scandal, involving allegations that foreign currency was hidden at his Phala Phala game farm, in Johannesburg, South Africa, May 8, 2026. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
Chief Justice Mandisa Maya goes trough the judgement as South Africa's Constitutional Court gives the ruling on whether the parliament failed to hold President Cyril Ramaphosa to account over the "Farmgate" scandal, involving allegations that foreign currency was hidden at his Phala Phala game farm, in Johannesburg, South Africa, May 8, 2026. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

Johannesburg: South Africa's highest court on Friday revived impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa over a scandal in which a large amount of foreign currency was stolen from inside a sofa in his farmhouse in 2020.
In 2022 Ramaphosa's political party blocked an impeachment committee from being set up to further investigate ⁠the incident, which raised questions about how Ramaphosa acquired so much physical cash, whether he declared it and why he stuffed it in furniture instead of depositing it at a bank.
Ramaphosa, in power since 2018, has always denied wrongdoing over the scandal, dubbed 'Farmgate' by local media, and has ‌said the money was proceeds from the sale of some buffaloes on his game ranch.

A long way to go before any impeachment vote

The court said the move to block the impeachment process was inconsistent with ‌the constitution and the committee should now be established. Ramaphosa said in a statement ‌that he respected the court's judgment. Political analysts said there was still a long way to ‌go in the impeachment process and Ramaphosa ‌was likely to survive if the matter was put to a vote in the lower house of parliament. An impeachment vote requires a ​two-thirds majority to pass, and ‌even though Ramaphosa's African National ​Congress (ANC) party lost its majority in a 2024 ⁠election, it still has well over one-third of the seats in the National Assembly. Farmgate broke when a former intelligence official walked into a police station and alleged Ramaphosa had tried to cover up the ​theft of about $4 million ⁠in foreign currency stashed ⁠at his Phala Phala game farm. Ramaphosa, a wealthy businessman before he became president, admitted there had been a break-in but said the thieves only stole $580,000.