Victory For The People – Constitutional Court Delivers Justice on Phala Phala

Leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters(EFF) Julius Malema, addresses the party’s followers at the Constitutional Court. Today marks a historic triumph for constitutional democracy, accountability, and the revolutionary struggle for a just South Africa. The Constitutional Court has ruled decisively in favour of the EFF’s application, together with our fellow applicants, setting aside Parliament’s irrational, corrupt, and unconstitutional decision to shield President Cyril Ramaphosa from the full consequences of the Phala Phala scandal.

I am personally absolutely elated—my heart swells with joy and revolutionary pride. I am personally absolutely elated This judgment is not merely a legal victory; it is a thunderous vindication of everything the EFF has stood for since the scandal first erupted in 2020. I was there when Arthur Fraser first took that matter, laying the first charges, to the Rosebank Police Station.

I supported the whole process from the very beginning. I stood, sometimes on my own, outside ANC NEC meetings, demanding that Ramaphosa should go. And finally today, the process has been started by a proper ruling by the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, having taken the three judgments into consideration, and now the impeachment process will bring Ramaphosa, as so many of us—including myself—have called forover many years, to final accountability.

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This judgment is not merely a legal victory; it is a thunderous vindication of everything the EFF has stood for since the scandal first erupted in 2020. And finally today, the process has been started by a proper ruling by the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, having taken the three judgments into consideration, and now the impeachment process will bring Ramaphosa, as so many of us On February 9, 2020, assailants broke into President Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo and stole a large sum of undeclared foreign currency–reportedly around $580,000 in crisp US dollars–hidden inside a sofa. This was not pocket change or legitimate savings; it was foreign currency that should have been declared, properly banked, and accounted for under South African law.

Instead, it points to serious questions around money laundering, foreign exchange violations, and a blatant abuse of office. On February 9, 2020, assailants broke into President Ramaphosa s Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo and stole a large sum of undeclared foreign currency hidden inside a sofa. The independent Section 89 panel—chaired by the highly regarded retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, and consisting of equally respected legal minds in retired Judge Thokozile Masipa and Advocate Mahlape Sello SC—examined the evidence in detail and released its report in November 2022.

These are jurists of impeccable integrity and vast experience, whose findings carry enormous weight in our constitutional framework. The panel found prima facie evidence that President Ramaphosa had committed serious violations: a breach of section 96(2)(a) of the Constitution, violations of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (PRECCA), and serious misconduct inconsistent with his oath of office under section 96(2)(b). The panel’s findings were damning–the President failed to report the theft properly to the police as required, allowed a private investigation involving state resources in a suspicious manner, and presided over what appeared to be a cover-up that undermined the integrity of the highest office in the land. chaired by the highly regarded retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, and consisting of equally respected legal minds in retired Judge Thokozile Masipa and Advocate Mahlape Sello SC

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