Does Ramaphosa taking the Section 89 panel report on legal review buy the President more time?

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]I therefore respectfully want to make it clear that I will not resign.

[00:00:07]I do to do so would be to preempt a process defined by the constitution.

[00:00:20]Those were the defined words of President Saul Ramapoa when he addressed the nation last night. Good evening.

[00:00:28]Asalam alaikum and welcome to news in focus. My name is Faras. We like to thank you the viewer for staying with us on Hilal TV channel 347.

[00:00:40]Now this is where President S Rapa stands in terms of the Palapala concort ruling. He's now seeking a legal review of the section 89 panel report. A move many analysts have said could delay parliamentary processes and buy the ANC time as political pressure mounts both inside and outside the governing party.

[00:01:05]Meanwhile, as we are speaking, the ANC has called an urgent NEC meeting to discuss the implementations of the Concord ruling and the growing political fallout surrounding President Ramapa.

[00:01:19]Joining me now to unpack all of this, no stranger to us here on Hilal TV. I'd like to welcome Sandil Swana, political and governance analyst. Sandil, always a pleasure having you on. Thank you so much for joining us.

[00:01:33]>> Thank you so much Faras. I'm glad to be here.

[00:01:37]>> No, it's absolute pleasure. Sandil by the rule of law within this country by the constitution the president has the absolute right to review this panel report. The question is how much of time is he and his legal team going to potentially use to try and get some sort of outcome which is favorable for him as a starting point. Let's begin with that.

[00:02:10]My view is that the directive from the constitutional court is that the the panel report must go directly to the impeachment committee.

[00:02:25]>> So which means they must constitute and and the panel report then holds and is in force until it is reviewed and set aside. It has not been reviewed and set aside. So it is in postcourse. So the impeachment committee will be using it as a starting point.

[00:02:45]>> So I do not see them gaining time >> h to actually h delay this process and and there have been instructions that they should not delay the process.

[00:02:59]They also in my judgment have an opportunity to say the objections that they had can be poised that they raise at the start of the hearing points and lemonade. So that when the consideration of all the evidence and the proceedings is done their concerns are are also taken into consideration in the process itself.

[00:03:24]So they their rights are protected. The speed of the process will not jeopardize the rights of the president.

[00:03:33]>> Sandil, here's the thing. I don't think anyone expected the president to resign.

[00:03:40]That was never going to happen. It was going to be potentially a sort of 10 I was going to say even not even 10% a sort of 2% chance that that was going to happen.

[00:03:51]But within that national assembly right now, I want to focus on the GNU partners because you have the Patriotic Alliance coming out, its leader Gayton McKenzie fully supporting the president, but there sort of mixed messaging coming from the Democratic alliance. How do you view the GNU within the context of what we seeing right now? The very same partners probably at administration before this would have been paying for the blood of the president.

[00:04:26]the the the DA it's on record that Helen Zilla >> offered Rama and the agency protection from the consequences of >> the Pala Pala possible impeachment on the basis that she will change her mind if new evidence comes up >> but the vote of the ANC against the continuation of the investigation prevented for evidence including new evidence to come up because the process of the panel of the of the of the panel did not allow for full investigation. It just wanted to make sure that there's a certain measure of credibility and that the call for an impeachment is not furious.

[00:05:21]But they didn't have all the powers and the time to do a full investigation.

[00:05:26]So now the new leader of the DA >> has said that they want the law to to take its course. They want the impeachment process to go through and it is quite likely that a lot of other information will come through. We've seen at least two people coming forward.

[00:05:46]We've seen the the former speaker was a speaker at the time >> stating that the agency disgracefully railroaded using their majority to railroad the decision unfairly so without without just cause >> and and then we also had Fraser the spy boss >> coming along and saying he was offered 50 million to make uh to to to remain quiet about certain things in this whole thing. So uh so there is probably going to be a number of eminent witnesses >> and valuable witnesses that will come in uh into the the impeachment process and give decisive input into it.

[00:06:36]>> Yeah. And and that's it. Sand delay, you've mentioned two important parts to this which are now fresh new evidence even though it's not holding in court.

[00:06:45]This was said on on other media houses and Kakula's comments the comments of Arthur Frasier. Now this and we haven't heard anything from Helen Zilla as yet when and of course she had mentioned that when she was still the federal chairperson. But for me the comments from Jordan Hill Lewis I think are quite damning where he says holding the government of national unity together cannot come at the expense of shielding Ramapora.

[00:07:14]I would like to think and of course I know you know you're not in the circles of the DA. I'm not in the circles of the DA. This is us just speculating, but one would need to look at it that his comments right there could potentially be that of a unified message within the DA, the ANC's strongest partner within the GNU. Do you get that feeling Sand that this now could change given these two new revelations that have been occurring in the last week?

[00:07:47]Yeah, I I I take I take Jordan Hill Lewis seriously in in his statements and and there are other reasons why you must take him seriously.

[00:07:58]>> If you if you're Jordan Hill Lewis, they are already in the GNU.

[00:08:03]>> Um those maneuvers by Helen Zilla gave them the chance to be in the in the GNU were not aware of anything that can kick them out of the GNU.

[00:08:15]So I think that they would want to profile themselves. This is an election year on top of everything else >> as the people who stand for the rule of law. Fortunately for them, they've got a new leader. Nobody has got to somersault in a big way. H Jordan Hill Lewis is younger. Um he represents a generation that wants to live by the rule of law and and and not compromise for the sake of positions in the GU. That's the profile. Unfortunately for them, the position of St. Hazen has been weakened.

[00:08:48]The position of Helen Zilla is not that strong anymore. So they've got plenty of opportunity to cleanse their image whilst in the meantime keeping the benefit of that compromise that they had made earlier.

[00:09:04]>> Santile within the opposition benches. It's going to be particularly interesting because I think there's a unified message there. Of course, this was, you know, brought about by the economic freedom fighters and also that of the ATM.

[00:09:22]How do they play the game now? Because obviously to them this may have been seen as a slight setback given that the president is going to take this on review. Does this strengthen their cause in terms of wanting this impeachment process to happen? I'd also like to add the MK party in this also and let's not forget even actions who have now said that they want to lay a criminal complaint against President Ramapoa.

[00:09:51]>> Yes. So actually the ANC is not going to profit from delaying this thing.

[00:09:59]Um you must remember that MMA built a whole party by protesting for good governance.

[00:10:07]Uh so he's going to milk it. So every other little delay and the other thing is that there are categories of offenses here that have actually been committed. There are criminal cases.

[00:10:24]There are criminal cases in progress that could start feeding uh information into this process. And as that happens, it gives Malma and others chance to persuade other political parties, including the IFP, >> to actually say, "Guys, this man is s there is a new future. H don't sink with it. Don't sync with it. Nobody's going to want to sing with By the way, even Gay M. This is opportunism for the time being.

[00:10:55]Once the evidence starts piling in and piling in and piling in, I think people will start saying, "No, President, you can see that this thing is not working."

[00:11:04]And I think the ANC will have prepared as we go along a a golden parachute for Rama.

[00:11:13]>> After the break, I'll continue my conversation with Santile Lewana. As we're speaking right now, the ANC is at a a special NEC sitting. what happens with regards to this especially on the back of former speaker and ANC NEC member Nivir Mapis Gakula's comments with regards to the ANC abusing its majority using focus returns after the break.

[00:11:45]Welcome back to news in focus sand. This comments from uh former speaker no misangula a very senior figure within the African National Congress.

[00:12:01]How massive were these comments given that in that sixth administration she was there. She was present in everything that was happening not just as the speaker of the parliament but also as a key member within the partying. This as the NEC meets right now to discuss the way forward after Friday's ruling.

[00:12:30]though clearly uh in the ANC now there are squalers or whistleblowers as things stand now. So so so EV from an evidential point of view uh people who have inside information h may now be quite willing to share that information with the impeachment committee.

[00:12:54]So part of the defense against this review by Rama Posa, I would suspect that those testimonies by the speaker will be useful.

[00:13:09]Partly also to say the terms of reference and the amount of time that were given and the powers that were given to the panel were limited so that the panel could not actually probe certain facts that needed or compel even people to make full disclosures h as an attempt to sabotage the panel. So she would have inside information into all of those details and probably then the staff that would have been handling the matter to say the very agency of of Sama had a very big hand in trying to undermine this. Therefore the evidence that is already appearing maybe creates even more weight. It it augments the work of the panel to say indeed the impeachment must proceed.

[00:14:05]Sadly, there was something interesting last night on an interview with newsroom Africa uh with Gu Mantas and he had mentioned that there was that possibility that President Ramapoza in his mind had thought of resigning and a change had happened which mean by that statement alone there was that possibility of it happening.

[00:14:32]How much does that now 4 years on reflect on what we are seeing right now?

[00:14:37]What would have changed his mind given that it came from a senior ANC member?

[00:14:44]Not just a senior ANC member, but someone within what was then the top six.

[00:14:52]It it's it's startling, isn't it, that a statement like that really could be swaying towards the state president's decision to make such an important call like that given what had happened in the farm.

[00:15:09]I I think that uh there is an element of bravado right now >> uh whereby guardashe is orchestrating h some form of brave face >> at a time when inside the there's fracturing >> I mean is one evidence I think there should be more >> in the g there is fracturing. There could even be fracturing in big business that I'm talking about the the billionaires and the CEOs and everybody else who put money into CR17 into operation and so on.

[00:15:54]And there are several three institutions that I think could provide damning evidence in this SARS the evidence around SARS is three and there is a a breach of the law the FIA the financial intelligence center >> and the South African Reserve Bank plus the fourth one being the NPA and and and and SEPs in terms of the two ongoing cases, the thieves themselves plus Rudy the the the the chief protector.

[00:16:31]So uh we must distinguish between the bravado and the worry and the genuine worry from the side of the president that if this thing actually becomes a proper inquiry with full powers the amount of flooding of evidence that will keep him flooding into that inquiry will be devastating to him personally and devastating to the ANC. M >> it is better to resign and and try to pull out of this thing and get the EFF and all the rest of them to focus on something else.

[00:17:08]Santile as this ANC sitting is happening conference is next year and there are elements within the ANC that are going to look at this and say here's our opportunity to try and not just unseed Ramapa but stake our claim within that top leadership. Are we about to see that happening at this moment? Are we about to see Pala Pala being used within what some would call the factions within the party to try and use this as leverage ahead of next year?

[00:17:48]Um, even regardless of that, I think the ANC right now is under due pressure, proper pressure, legitimate pressure to let the nation know who the next ANC president is, who the successor of Ramaposa is. Because even without the pala pala issue, it is probably a good time to start knowing which way they are going with this thing. Uh h because they've been putting us through all kinds of crisises and confusion before.

[00:18:26]H so we know that it's between now and next year in any cases term is coming to an end is a lame duck president. So to pile up scumbs like this just creates more confusion. The big business element has got to deal with two things. One, they may want their own candidate whether it would be a practice but there may be other people who hold the ground in otherwise who control the ground forces. It could well be that Mashhat has got the ground forces. So they have to negotiate all of that.

[00:19:03]Are you going to then negotiate a prisoners friendly deal with Masha D or are you going to try and parachute uh a a a new person like Patric M and so on. But they've got to say clearly who is taking over and what is the process going to be. What I mean by that is this. If this thing goes against Ramaposa and the odds are stacked against Raosa right now, do they have an inter president?

[00:19:35]>> Do they have a successor? They need to go there. They need to seriously go there. H the bravado for the time being is good enough creating a sense of stability. We we we stability in South Africa has been overrated since 1948.

[00:19:54]We suffered a lot under the stability of the National Party. We suffered a lot under the stability of the ANC. We've suffered a lot under the stability of Ramaposa and the GNU H because I mean to sit with 1% GDP and less than 1% GDP growth. It's a problem.

[00:20:13]>> So we we don't need stability. We can't be focusing on stability right now.

[00:20:19]>> One final question to complete this conversation. Sandle opposition benches.

[00:20:24]I had a conversation with the EFF yesterday. A secret ballot is something that they want. They're looking for obviously parliamentary processes need to come into consideration.

[00:20:38]In your view, Sandle, do you see do you foresee a potential secret ballot occurring? Should we get to that point? still far away. But can are we are we going to get to that point in terms of a secret ballot?

[00:20:54]>> I I think there are a few things. One of them is the motion of no confidence. If if I was h these guys like the EFF and them, I would be using the time that is available uh to mobilize people for a motion of no confidence rather than bringing the the the impeachment process to an to its logical conclusion because the impeachment process becomes difficult at the end once you have the report because the numbers there can become a problem.

[00:21:29]the numbers of emotion of no confidence are probably much more dable.

[00:21:34]H the issue of the secret ballot has been very tricky. H but if it was a secret ballot there would be defectors in the >> descenders let's call them desenders in the no question about it. Sandi Lewana, always a pleasure having you on. Thank you so much for joining us. Much appreciated.

[00:21:57]>> Thank you for >> that's uh Sandil Lewana, politics and governance expert.

[00:22:03]A huge journey for us for South Africa and I can tell you what it's going to continue like that for quite some time.

[00:22:10]After the break, I speak to Dr. Ali Alsay. Uh he's a Middle East scholar.

[00:22:15]Donald Trump does not like what Iran has sent him. Iran is hit out at the US saying they are asking for too much.

[00:22:23]Will we return to fighting this as the world's economy continues to be strangled? That conversation is after the break.