In a closely contested vote that signals the difficult terrain ahead, Rise Mzansi’s Makashule Gana has been elected chairperson of Parliament’s impeachment committee tasked with investigating whether President Cyril Ramaphosa should face removal over the Phala Phala foreign currency scandal.
Gana secured 19 votes against 12 for his rival, United Africans Transformation leader Dr Lehlohonolo Mahlatsi, at the 31-member committee’s inaugural sitting on Monday.
The victory hands the former Democratic Alliance leader a pivotal role in one of the most consequential political processes to unfold in South Africa’s democratic history.
The election marks the formal commencement of a constitutional process that has been nearly four years in the making, stemming from a February 2020 burglary at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo, where foreign currency was stolen.
Constitutional Court forced Parliament’s hand
The committee was established following a Constitutional Court order in May that declared the National Assembly’s December 2022 decision not to proceed with an impeachment inquiry unconstitutional.
That vote had rejected findings by an independent panel, led by retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, which concluded there was prima facie evidence that Ramaphosa may have committed serious violations of the Constitution and serious misconduct.
The court’s landmark ruling on 8 May ordered that the panel’s report must be referred to an impeachment committee “unless and until the report is set aside on review”.
That caveat has become a legal battleground, with Ramaphosa launching a judicial review just days after the judgment, seeking to have the panel’s findings set aside.
Gana’s political journey
Gana’s election as chairperson is itself a remarkable political arc. The 43-year-old spent two decades in the DA, serving as the party’s youth leader, deputy federal chairperson, and holding seats in both the National Assembly and Gauteng legislature. He quit the official opposition in August 2022, declaring that “something new is required to rise collectively”.
By April 2023, he had joined Rise Mzansi as chief organiser under leader Songezo Zibi, positioning himself among what he called “an emerging generation of leaders and activists committed to mobilising and organising to return power to the people”.
Rise Mzansi, founded in 2023 and positioning itself as a social democratic alternative, won representation in the 2024 elections. Gana now serves on several parliamentary committees, including those dealing with police, transport and the Presidency – making him familiar with oversight of the executive.
Mahlatsi’s challenge
His opponent in Monday’s vote, Mahlatsi, leads the United Africans Transformation (UAT), a tiny party that secured just 0.22% of the national vote in 2024, earning him the party’s sole parliamentary seat. A self-described pan-Africanist from Sebokeng, Mahlatsi is the son of a domestic worker and taxi driver who previously served in the ANC before forming UAT in 2022.
Mahlatsi withdrew from negotiations to join the Government of National Unity after the 2024 elections, accusing the ANC of “acting in bad faith” by not offering him a cabinet position. His nomination as chairperson suggests he may have had support from opposition parties keen to install a critic of both Ramaphosa and the governing coalition.
The 19-12 vote split indicates the committee is not monolithic, setting the stage for potentially contentious deliberations ahead.
What happens next
As chairperson, Gana will oversee proceedings, guide deliberations and ensure the committee’s work complies with the Constitution, National Assembly rules and its Section 89 mandate. That mandate requires the committee to investigate whether there are sufficient grounds for the president’s removal.
Section 89 of the Constitution sets three thresholds for impeachment: a serious violation of the Constitution or the law, serious misconduct, or inability to perform the functions of office. The threshold for impeachment is high – requiring support from two-thirds of the National Assembly.
The committee must now determine its programme of work and procedural rules. Parliament has indicated that details of future meetings and activities will be communicated in due course.
The process unfolds against the backdrop of Ramaphosa’s court challenge, which his office says is aimed at preventing the committee from proceeding while the panel’s findings are under judicial review. Legal experts expect this tension between parliamentary process and judicial review to test constitutional boundaries.
The Phala Phala matter has dogged Ramaphosa since June 2022, when former State Security Agency director-general Arthur Fraser laid criminal charges alleging the president concealed the theft of foreign currency from his farm and arranged for the suspects to be kidnapped and interrogated.
Multiple investigations have since been launched, with some closed and others still ongoing.
Speaking after his election, Gana said: “The Section 89 committee work is now in progress.”
