South Africa court revives Ramaphosa impeachment inquiry

South Africa's highest court has cleared the way for impeachment proceedings to be revived against President Cyril Ramaphosa over the Farmgate scandal.

The Constitutional Court ruled that parliament's 2022 decision to block an inquiry into the case was unconstitutional and invalid, setting aside the vote.

Chief Justice Mandisa Maya said the National Assembly vote of 13 December 2022 was inconsistent with the constitution.

The court ordered that an independent panel's report be referred to an impeachment committee.

The case centres on a large sum of foreign currency stolen from Ramaphosa's farmhouse in 2020.

The allegations first surfaced in June 2022 after Arthur Fraser, then head of South Africa's State Security Agency, accused the president of trying to cover up the theft.

The ruling matters because it reopens a formal parliamentary route that could examine the president's conduct, even though he would still need to lose a two-thirds vote in the lower house to be removed from office.

The case was brought by the Economic Freedom Fighters and the African Transformation Movement.

Ramaphosa has denied wrongdoing and said the money came from the sale of buffalo at his farm.

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