This week marks the deadline for the parliamentary panel to hand over its report on whether President Cyril Ramaphosa has a case to answer regarding the robbery at his Phala Phala farm in 2020.
The panel, which has had more than 30 days to complete its work, will decide whether Ramaphosa will be subject to a process that may lead to his removal from office in terms of section 89 of the constitution and rule 129A-Q of the National Assembly.
The National Assembly is set to debate the independent panel report on the Phala Phala saga on December 6, just 10 days before the ANC’s 55th elective conference. Analysts are divided as to how much its contents will eventually cost Ramaphosa.
Parliament will hold a special hybrid sitting after it was due to close for 2022, when the speaker granted the panel’s chair an extension until November 30. MPs will decide on the next step in an impeachment vote against the president. They will receive the report in the first week of December.
The matter relates to the alleged theft of millions of US dollars from Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in Limpopo in 2020.
The ANC, DA, IFP and EFF welcomed that MPs will have the opportunity to debate the report before the National Assembly rises. Already, seniors in the ANC — among them presidential contender Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma — have urged Ramaphosa to step aside over the scandal.
The ANC will also be busy this week clearing disputes arising from its nominations branch process ahead of its national conference.
The ANC must also decide whether its provincial structures in the Free State and Western Cape can meet ahead of the elective conference on December 16.
Also, public service unions are expected to embark on an indefinite strike for higher wages on Friday if the government does not respond positively to their demand for a pay rise.
Leaders of public service unions affiliated to labour federations Cosatu, Fedusa and the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) say the “total shutdown” will affect almost all government services. The police, nurses and workers in all government departments are expected to down tools.
The shutdown will come after the government implemented its final offer of a 3% increase as per the numbers contained in finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s medium-term budget policy statement on October 26.
Meanwhile, Ramaphosa returns to the National Council of Provinces on Thursday to reply to oral questions.
Oral question-and-answer sessions are used by parliament to hold the executive accountable. As stipulated in section 92(2) of the constitution, members of the executive (the president, deputy president and cabinet ministers) are accountable collectively and individually to parliament for the exercise of their powers and the performance of their functions.
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