EFF cautions Gana to chair Impeachment Committee fairly

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]Parliament section 89 impeachment committee has elected Makashule Gana as its chairperson. Now, this paves the way for the committee to begin its work in investigating President Cyril Ramaphosa's conduct into the Phala Phala farm saga. EFF Treasury General Omphile Maotwe joins us for her reaction to the election of the new chairperson of the section 94 impeachment committee.

[00:00:23]Omphile, thank you so much for the time.

[00:00:24]Really appreciate it as EFF Treasury General joining us this morning. Perhaps we can just get your overall thoughts of of this you know, the election of Makashule Gana and and your thoughts on the process finally getting underway.

[00:00:39]Good morning.

[00:00:41]>> Good morning to you, Arabile. Good morning to the viewers of Newsroom.

[00:00:46]Yes, indeed, we are happy as the EFF that finally the matter will get to the impeachment committee. It has taken so long and so much for us to be where we are now. So, we wouldn't have allowed anything to deter us. If you remember, Arabile, this issue is an issue that uh started back in 2020 when the alleged burglary happened.

[00:01:09]And it was only um it only came to light in 2022 when Arthur Fraser Arthur Fraser >> Mhm.

[00:01:16]>> um issued a media statement and uh to to the extent that he had opened the case and whatnot.

[00:01:22]We saw Parliament with its majority trying to suppress the matter from going forward in terms of the establishment of the impeachment as envisaged in section 89 of the Constitution. Now, we had to take the matter to the Constitutional Court because we believed that it cannot be correct that the majority um can just shut down a report of the independent panel even when the panel concluded that there was a prima facie evidence that the president needs to answer to some of the questions.

[00:01:55]>> Mhm.

[00:01:56]>> And the fact that even the president himself said that indeed there was that money and indeed that money was stolen. So, how do you not How do you then say that the report is not correct when the president himself said that he had that money. So, we are happy now that the process is finally underway. This is 6 years later. So, we don't have any time to waste. South Africans are waiting to hear >> Yeah.

[00:02:21]>> what exactly transpired on that fateful day at Phala Phala.

[00:02:25]>> What do you know What do you make though of the the the chairperson of this committee being from uh Rise Mzansi, which is indeed part of the government of national unity? Um will politics be winning the day here or do you reckon that this is certainly the the right compromise for for somebody of uh Magashule kind of stature to be leading this committee to ensure that the processes are followed?

[00:02:49]>> We had our own candidate, Arabile, and our candidate was Dr. Wonderboy Macozoma, whom we believed and we still believe that he would have done justice to this um committee.

[00:03:01]However, the ANC and the DA chose uh uh Magashule Gana.

[00:03:08]Well, it it We're happy that the ANC did not get the chairpersonship. We were all actually guarding against the ANC getting the chairpersonship looking at their conduct ever since this matter was brought to Parliament. Uh Magashule Gana is not different because his party has not objected to anything that the ANC has said. But uh it is their chairperson.

[00:03:30]Uh he's now the chairperson of the committee. We're going to work with him.

[00:03:34]We're hoping that he's not going to be driven by partisanship and he's not going to get influence from the ANC and the DA. They might have voted him, but he's now the chairperson of the committee and he's cheering all of us and he must not be seen to be What he did What he did yesterday, shaking the hands of the ANC and the DA and not the hands of the of us on the other side. We take it that because they were on his way to the chair, and that's why he did that.

[00:03:59]>> Yeah.

[00:03:59]>> But uh we we've got faith in him. Um he must just take this committee and rule fairly uh chair the the the the committee fairly. If he doesn't, obviously we're going to object to him.

[00:04:12]>> So.

[00:04:12]>> It's going to be very interesting working relations with him.

[00:04:17]>> What is it What is What is the EFF's hope at the end of this? Is Is it the hope that the president would get impeached?

[00:04:24]>> Well, it's it's it's out there for everybody to see, Arabi. The president has himself has said that he had money in his couches, dollars, which were not declared, which to this day we still don't know how they came to the country. And there were issues raised that no, he sold Angolans a businessman from He never collected those buffaloes to this day. So, um the president has breached the oath of his office. That is the bottom line. And and hence want to get to the bottom of it to say, "Okay, in your right mind, president, when you took dollars, when you are not an American, what are you doing with the dollars in South Africa when you are leading us in South But also remember, Arabi, this is the president who said, "Actually, this thing of presidency is a side job. His job is actually a wildlife." He said that himself. And from that day, South Africans should have woken up and realized that they are just electing a businessman who's got no interest of this country going forward.

[00:05:22]But we're going to hold him accountable.

[00:05:24]There's no way he's going to escape this. I can tell you for free. He has breached so many contravened so many laws in the country.

[00:05:32]>> Well, is there any concern though?

[00:05:34]Apologies, Mpila. Apologies for for interjecting there, but are you are you concerned at all that he does have a legal process going right now to try and interdict and pause the the the the work of the committee on the basis of that section 89 report possibly on his account being flawed and not being being based correctly on the right evidence and communication.

[00:05:57]>> The the order of the Constitutional Court is very clear.

[00:06:01]The panel independent panel report must now be referred to the impeachment committee. So, there's nothing that stops us. He has taken the matter on review. It's his legal right to do that.

[00:06:14]But, it would be interesting to see a lower court um reviewing a report that already the Constitutional Court has directly or indirectly made a pronouncement a on.

[00:06:25]So, and this is not the first time, by the way, he took it to court, if you remember very well. He took the matter to court before the voting in the National Assembly.

[00:06:33]>> Yeah.

[00:06:34]>> And when he realized that he had won with the majority in Parliament, he then withdrew the review application, if you remember very well.

[00:06:42]And now that he sees that he he has now lost in the Constitutional Court, he now wants to bring It's a delay tactic, which we will not entertain. At the moment, court is not set aside. At the moment, there is no interdict to interdict the work of the committee, and therefore the work of the committee has already started.

[00:06:59]>> Yeah. Um Pule, well, >> We are now dealing with appointment of the evidence leader. And once that is done, the work will be under dealing with the terms of reference. Nothing is going to stop us. Nothing is going to deter us.

[00:07:10]>> Well, if we continue in that same vein, um um Magashule has has vowed that there will be no delays in this inquiry. Do you believe in this assurance um is is realistic, given especially the complexities of of this process and even the political stakes that are involved?

[00:07:28]>> The assurance we have is that one of the of the order of the Constitutional Court that says that the matter must now be referred to the impeachment committee.

[00:07:38]In front of us now, as we speak, the report has not been set aside.

[00:07:43]Uh and therefore, the work of the committee continues. We don't need any Magashule Gana to confirm that. We know that. The Constitutional Court already told that the Chief Justice uh Maya has told us that the work of the committee must now continue. And the speaker, if she thought she was going to stall it, we were going to send her to prison. Direct imprisonment. Including that Magashule Gana, if he thinks that he's going to want to stall this process, we'll apply to court and we'll send him straight to jail. The work of the committee is continuing. We are dealing with an order of the highest court in the land, the Constitutional Court, which has directed us to have the impeachment committee work commencing.

[00:08:24]>> Mphile Malatji, EFF Treasurer General, thank you so much for joining us this morning on AM Report to really share your thoughts with regards to Magashule Gana being elected as the chairperson of the impeachment committee on the Phala Phala saga, which of course has begun its work in earnest, but as you said, the