South Africa’s parliament has given a panel headed by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo until November 18 to determine whether President Cyril Ramaphosa has a case to answer over allegations that he tried to conceal a robbery at his Phala Phala farm two years ago.
In a statement on Monday evening, the National Assembly said the three-member independent panel had a month to complete its work and report to National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
“The 30-day timeline within which the panel must report in terms of (the rules) starts from October 19,” parliament said.
The panel was appointed by Mapisa-Nqakula in September to assess whether there are grounds to impeach Ramaphosa over the alleged cover-up of a robbery that took place at his farm in which millions of foreign currency was allegedly stolen in February 2020.
Other members of the panel are former Gauteng judge Thokozile Masipa and University of Cape Town public law professor Richard Calland.
Ramaphosa is being investigated for allegedly concealing the robbery in which more than US$4 million was stolen.
It is alleged that he did not report the robbery to the police and sought to have the matter quietly dealt with since he had broken South Africa’s banking laws by not depositing the foreign currency.
The appointment of the panel comes in the wake of a motion by African Transformation Movement leader Vuyo Zungula in which he requested parliament to initiate an inquiry into Ramaphosa’s removal from office.
JN/APA