Parties push for Didiza to recuse herself from Phala Phala process

Parties involved in talks over the Phala Phala impeachment committee will move for National Assembly speaker Thoko Didiza to recuse herself from oversight of the process, African Transformation Movement (ATM) leader Vuyolwethu Zungula said on Monday. Zungula made the announcement outside a closed-door meeting in parliament, where parties were locked in last-minute negotiations over who should chair the National Assembly committee set up to deal with the revived section 89 process against President Cyril Ramaphosa. He said parties from inside and outside the government of national unity (GNU) agreed on several principles before the committee’s first sitting at 2pm.

He said the concern stemmed from Didiza’s 2022 vote against processing the report, as well as her subsequent handling of the matter after the Constitutional Court judgment revived the process. “We do not want that process on that committee to be chaired by someone in the ANC, because we view the ANC as having already taken a posture and a decision to protect the president,” Zungula said. He said the ANC’s decision to vote against processing the Phala Phala report in 2022 remained central to the parties’ objections.

Zungula said parties also agreed that Ramaphosa’s court challenge should not halt the committee’s work unless a court interdicts the process or sets aside the report. “All of the parties that were part of the meeting have agreed that the process must continue until either there is an interdict or the report has been set aside by a court of law,” he said. Zungula said the parties also agreed to seek Didiza’s recusal from overseeing the impeachment process.

[paywall]

He stressed that the parties were not calling for Didiza to be removed as speaker but wanted her to have no oversight role in the impeachment process. The talks came as lobbying intensified over who should chair the 31-member committee, which is expected to elect its chair when it meets in the Good Hope chamber at 2pm. Zungula said several names had been discussed, but parties still needed to consult senior officials before finalising their nominee.

[/paywall]