South Africa's Constitutional Court ruled on Friday that parliament had acted unconstitutionally when it voted in 2022 to block impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa, reopening a four-year-old political scandal that has shadowed his presidency. Chief Justice Mandisa Maya declared the December 2022 parliamentary vote "inconsistent with the Constitution, invalid, and set aside," and ordered that an independent panel's report on Ramaphosa's conduct be referred to an impeachment committee. The presidency said it "noted the judgement" and that Ramaphosa respected the court's decision.

The case stems from what local media have dubbed "Farmgate" or the "Phala Phala scandal" — named after Ramaphosa's luxury farm in the northern Limpopo province, where, in 2020, burglars allegedly stole large sums of foreign currency concealed in furniture. The theft came to light in 2022 when the country's former spy chief filed a complaint with police, alleging that Ramaphosa had not only hidden the incident from authorities but had arranged for the suspects to be abducted and paid off rather than reported to police. Ramaphosa has consistently denied wrongdoing, saying only $580,000 — proceeds from the sale of 20 buffaloes to a Sudanese businessman — had been stolen. An independent panel subsequently found he "may have committed" serious violations of his oath of office, but parliament, then dominated by his African National Congress (ANC), voted 214 to 148 against establishing an impeachment committee. Public prosecutors dropped separate money laundering and corruption charges against him in 2024.

The ruling was brought before the court by the radical left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the African Transformation Movement. Speaking outside the court in Johannesburg, EFF leader Julius Malema celebrated the outcome, saying "our Constitution has won," and called on Ramaphosa to resign so he could "concentrate on this impeachment process." The Democratic Alliance (DA), described as the second-largest party in the governing coalition, said it would "participate fully and constructively in the impeachment committee" and be "guided by the facts" without prejudging the outcome.

The political stakes are considerably higher now than in 2022. The ANC, which was reduced to roughly 40 percent of parliamentary seats following last year's general election, no longer commands an outright majority and governs in an uneasy coalition with nine other parties. That means any future impeachment vote in the National Assembly would be far less certain to protect Ramaphosa than the 2022 vote was. Municipal elections are also scheduled for 4 November, adding further urgency to a ruling that the ANC acknowledged demonstrates "the importance of allowing institutions to function independently" within South Africa's constitutional democracy.

The next immediate step lies with the Speaker of the National Assembly, Thoko Didiza, who must establish an impeachment committee to examine the independent panel's findings. If that committee recommends impeachment, the matter would return to a full parliamentary vote — one in which the ANC's reduced numbers make the outcome genuinely uncertain. Three individuals remain on trial for the original theft at the Phala Phala farm.