South Africa’s opposition parties voiced their anger on Friday following the suspension of parliamentary impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa, as reported by africanews.com. The president faces accusations of concealing the theft of $580,000 in undeclared foreign currency from the police and tax authorities.

Prosecutors had dropped all charges against Ramaphosa in 2024. However, a constitutional court ruling in May opened the door for the impeachment committee to form. Vuyolwethu Zungula, President of the African Transformation Movement, commented on the ruling’s implications, stating, ‘It places parliament and our democratic institutions at a very difficult position because what it effectively means is each and every president that is held accountable via section eighty-nine process can easily go to court and want to stop Parliament from doing what Parliament constitutionally is obligated to do.’

Glynnis Breytenbach, MP for the Democratic Alliance, described the situation as a ‘resounding loss for the president,’ adding, ‘Because what he is doing is postponing the inevitable. And for a whole president of the country to have to come to the courts to interdict another branch of government from doing its work because he doesn’t want to be publicly embarrassed, well, that says it all.’

The High Court is scheduled to hear Ramaphosa’s bid to overturn the independent report underlying the proceedings in September. Ramaphosa has maintained his denial of any wrongdoing, and the presidency stated after the ruling that he respects the independence of the judiciary and will continue to cooperate with authorities.

This development underscores the tensions between different branches of government in South Africa and raises questions about the integrity of democratic processes within the country.