24 JUL 2026Ramaphosa secures interdict against impeachment inquiry pending Phala Phala reviewNkateko Joseph Mabasa3 min read

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s legal team secured a temporary suspension of the impeachment inquiry until the Phala Phala report review process is decided in September President Cyril Ramaphosa has secured an interim interdict preventing Parliament’s Section 89 impeachment committee from proceeding with public hearings while he challenges the legality of the independent panel report into the Phala Phala matter. The Western Cape High Court granted the interim relief on Friday, in a split 2-1 decision by a full Bench comprising judges André le Grange, Matthew Francis and Diane Davis. The order temporarily halts the committee’s public impeachment hearings until Ramaphosa’s review application is determined.

The review is scheduled to be heard from 2 to 4 September 2026. The impeachment hearings will resume from then and consider the ramifications of a reviewed Phala Phala report. Handing down the judgment, Judge Francis said the court had considered the matter under significant time constraints because of its urgency.

“This court has carefully considered the weighty arguments advanced by the parties in the limited time available given the urgency of the matter,” he said. Francis explained that the Bench of three judges delivered three separate judgments. “The first judgment concludes, for reasons set out therein, that the president has not made out a case for an interim interdict.

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It proposes that the application be dismissed,” he said. “The second judgment concludes that the president had made out the case for an interim interdict for the reasons set out in that judgment. It proposes that an interdict for a limited duration be granted.

“The third judgment concurs with the second judgment. The second judgment is the majority judgment.” The court ordered that Parliament be interdicted from proceeding with the public impeachment hearings pending the review of the Section 89 independent panel report (Phala Phala report).

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