Farmgate scandal: South Africa’s parliament votes against move to impeach Ramaphosa

South Africa’s parliament has voted against starting impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa.

TheCable had reported that Ramaphosa was facing impeachment threats after an independent panel set up by the speaker of South Africa’s parliament said findings suggested that the president acted in a manner that was inconsistent with his office.

The report centred on the alleged theft of $580,000 cash from Ramaphosa’s farm in 2020, which came to light in June. 

The president had been accused of covering up the theft, and the panel had raised questions about how the cash was acquired.

He had, however, denied any wrongdoings.

Speaking on the development at the time, Vincent Magwenya, Ramaphosa’s spokesman, said his principal would not step aside nor resign from office due to a “flawed panel report”.

He said Ramaphosa would fight on and seek a second term as leader of his African National Congress party.

Members of South Africa’s parliament were scheduled to vote on the matter on Tuesday.

According to Al Jazeera, the legislators voted 214 to 148 against the move to impeach Ramaphosa.

A majority of the votes came from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, preventing the motion from getting the two-thirds vote needed to proceed with the impeachment process.

The votes come in the week when Ramaphosa will be seeking to be re-elected as the leader of the ANC at its national conference starting in Johannesburg on Friday.

The party’s national executive committee — ANC’s highest decision making body — will also be chosen at the conference.

Ramaphosa needs to be re-elected as the ANC leader in order to stand for re-election for a second term as South Africa’s president in 2024.