Vetted by NeuralPress's Multi-Agent Verifier for strict factual validity and event relevance. Our compliance engine cross-checks and filters search results to ensure zero false correlations or misleading content.
Disputed Stolen Currency Amounts
Comparison of reported stolen amounts in the Farmgate scandal
Primary Sources
South Africa's top court revives impeachment inquiry against president ...
The scandal centres on a large sum of foreign currency stolen from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s farmhouse in 2020.South Africa’s highest court has cleared the way for the revival of impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa, ruling that parliament’s decision to block an inquiry four years ago was inconsistent with the constitution.Ramaphosa avoided impeachment proceedings in 2022 after his governing African National Congress (ANC) party used its parliamentary majority to reject a recommendation by an independent panel that he face an inquiry into the theft of a large sum of cash from his farmhouse two years earlier. The scandal, dubbed “Farmgate”, sparked accusations that he had failed to properly account for the source of the money hidden in a sofa.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3S Africa’s parliament votes against Ramaphosa impeachment movelist 2 of 3South Africa’s Ramaphosa avoids impeachment: A timelinelist 3 of 3South Africa graft watchdog clears Ramaphosa in farm cash scandalend of listOn Friday, the Constitutional Court’s Chief Justice Mandisa Maya said: “The vote of the National Assembly taken on 13 December 2022 … is inconsistent with the Constitution, invalid, and it is set aside.”The court ordered that the independent panel’s report be referred to an impeachment committee.The case was brought by two opposition parties – the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the African Transformation Movement (ATM). The EFF has called on Ramaphosa, who has been in power since 2018, to resign.Ramaphosa has denied any wrongdoing, saying the money came from the sale of buffalo at his farm.An impeachment committee is due to review evidence against him before deciding whether to recommend formal proceedings. However, even if it does, the president would still likely survive a vote in the lower house of parliament, where a two-thirds majority is required to remove him from office. Ramaphosa’s ANC retains more than one-third of the seats in the National Assembly, despite losing its majority in 2024.The allegations against Ramaphosa surfaced in June 2022 after South Africa’s former head of the State Security Agency, Arthur Fraser, accused him of attempting to cover up the theft at his farm. Fraser alleged that about $4m in foreign currency had been stolen. Ramaphosa disputes the total, maintaining that $580,000 was taken.Since then, the president has faced repeated accusations that he sought to conceal the theft to avoid explaining why suc...
South Africa top court revives impeachment inquiry against president
Ramaphosa is accused of hiding from police and tax authorities a 2020 break-in and theft of large sums of foreign currency allegedly stashed in furniture at his luxury Phala Phala farmhouse in the northern Limpopo province.An independent panel later said he "may have committed" serious violations and misconduct.But parliament, then controlled by his African National Congress (ANC) party, declined in 2022 to open impeachment proceedings that could have forced him from office."It is declared that the vote of the National Assembly taken on 13 December 2022... is inconsistent with the Constitution, invalid, and it is set aside," the Constitutional Court's Chief Justice Mandisa Maya said.It ordered that the independent panel's report be referred to an impeachment committee.The court decision followed a complaint lodged by the radical left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party.The ruling is likely to heap fresh pressure on Ramaphosa and the ANC, which has been shedding support over unmet policy pledges and persistent accusations of corruption and weak governance, ahead of municipal elections on November 4.The presidency said it "noted the judgement" and that Ramaphosa respected it."President Ramaphosa maintains that no person is above the law and that any allegations should be subjected to due process without fear, favour or prejudice," it said in a statement.'Rough and thorough questions'The public prosecutor dropped money laundering and corruption charges against Ramaphosa in 2024.EFF leader Julius Malema hailed Friday's ruling, saying: "We are happy our Constitution has won.""The ANC itself has to take a decision whether it wants to be led by a president with this dark cloud hanging over him," Malema said outside the court in the financial capital Johannesburg.Ramaphosa would face "very rough and thorough questions" if impeachment proceedings were opened, he added. Unlike in 2022, the ANC no longer commands a majority in parliament. Reduced to 40 percent of seats after a drubbing in the 2024 general election, Nelson Mandela's former liberation movement has been forced into an often-uneasy coalition with nine other parties. Money was stolen from Cyril Ramaphosa's Phala Phala farmhouse in the northern Limpopo province © EMMANUEL CROSET / AFP/File The Democratic Alliance (DA), the second-largest party in the coalition, said it "will participate fully and constructively in the impeachment committee"."We will be guided by the facts, by the evidence placed b...
South Africa court reinstates Ramaphosa impeachment process - MSN
The Constitutional Court ruled that a December 2022 parliamentary vote blocking an impeachment inquiry into President Cyril Ramaphosa was inconsistent with the constitution. It ordered that an ...
South Africa's top court revives Ramaphosa impeachment fight over Phala ...
At the time, members of the governing African National Congress used their majority in Parliament to defeat a motion that would have advanced impeachment proceedings against the president.
