Senior advocate Mahlape Sello, who was the evidence leader at the state capture inquiry, was on Tuesday appointed to replace law professor Richard Calland on a panel that will assess claims of criminal conduct against president Cyril Ramaphosa over the burglary at his Phala Phala game farm.
Sello joins former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo and former high court judge Thokozile Masipa on the three-member panel after Calland was removed by National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula upon pressure from opposition parties.
The DA and EFF noted Calland had spoken positively about Ramaphosa in the course of his work as a political analyst, prompting Mapisa-Nqakula to seek legal advice and remove him.
Parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said Mapisa-Nqakula believed “there exists no factual basis to corroborate any perceived or apprehension of bias” but Calland’s sitting on the panel was a threat to its integrity.
Calland accepted the decision, saying “unnecessary controversy” over his presence on the panel would divert attention from the issue at hand, slow down progress and impair its integrity.
Opposition parties are clamouring for Ramaphosa’s head after claims were made of his alleged cover-up of the 2020 burglary in which a large sum of cash in US dollars was stolen from his private game farm in Limpopo.
In July, former State Security Agency (SSA) head Arthur Fraser opened a criminal case, accusing the president of kidnapping, bribery and money laundering. Ramaphosa has denied any wrongdoing and insisted the cash was the legitimate proceeds of a game sale.
The section 89 panel must assess the available evidence with an eye to a possible impeachment vote by MPs, based on its recommendations. Once a starting date is announced the panel must work on a report due in 30 days, after which MPs will debate its contents.
Brett Herron, secretary-general of GOOD, the political party that nominated Calland, accused the DA and EFF of grandstanding and said Mapisa-Nqakula yielded to political pressure. “It sets a dangerous precedent,” he said.
Political analyst Sanusha Naidu said the decision to remove Calland is important. “The panel cannot afford to have its work and ultimate recommendations compromised or challenged,” Naidu said. “This development demonstrates how significant it is to get the optics [right] ensuring that the panel starts off on the right path.”
Calland, an associate professor of public law at the University of Cape Town, is a founding member of independent consultancy the Paternoster Group. He is also the author of The Zuma Years, published in 2013.
He has rejected claims of bias, saying that he would act without fear or favour. “I would do so regardless of anything that I have said or written in the past in my role as political commentator,” he said.
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