South African president gets court order halting inquiry into 'Farmgate' scandal

JOHANNESBURG, July 24 - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was granted a court order on Friday that temporarily halts a parliamentary impeachment inquiry from probing misconduct allegations over his "Farmgate" scandal.

The ruling likely spares Ramaphosa further embarrassment over the scandal until early September, when he will try to get the same court to overturn a panel report that found he may have violated the constitution.

Farmgate involved the theft of bundles of foreign currency from a sofa on Ramaphosa's ranch in 2020.

He has always denied wrongdoing and said the $580,000 stolen was proceeds from the sale of buffaloes, but the episode raised questions about why he had so much money stuffed in furniture and tarnished his image as a corruption fighter.

Even if the impeachment process does get off the ground and ultimately leads to a parliamentary vote on whether Ramaphosa should be removed from office, political analysts expect him to remain in power.

Ramaphosa still enjoys the backing of his African National Congress party, the country's biggest which leads a coalition government.

It is not clear how all the ANC's coalition partners would vote in the impeachment process, but some of them would probably back Ramaphosa and the ANC has enough members on its own to stop him from being removed from office.

The Democratic Alliance, the ANC's key coalition partner, said on Friday that Ramaphosa's review of the panel report should be resolved urgently.

"South Africans are ... entitled to answers, and to know that the same standards of accountability apply to every person who holds public office," it said in a statement.

Ramaphosa's office said he noted the court order and would cooperate with processes of accountability.

Ramaphosa, 73, has been head of state since 2018, when he came to power on a pledge to fight graft. His second presidential term is due to end in 2029. REUTERS