South Africa’s highest court ruled on Friday that President Cyril Ramaphosa should face an impeachment inquiry in Parliament over a scandal involving a theft on his farm, dealing a potentially grave blow to his political future.
The ruling, which refers to a case in which more than half a million dollars was stolen after being stashed in a couch at Mr. Ramaphosa’s game farm, immediately generated calls from political opponents that he resign.
On Friday, the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg declared invalid a law that allowed Parliament to reject an independent panel’s recommendation in 2022 that Mr. Ramaphosa face an impeachment hearing.
The panel had expressed skepticism at Mr. Ramaphosa’s explanation of how such a large sum of money had ended up being hidden in, and then stolen from, a couch in 2020. The panel also said that the president had abused his power by trying to get Namibia’s president to help in the theft investigation, that he may have flouted foreign currency laws and that he may have violated the Constitution in conducting private business in conflict with his official duties.
Mr. Ramaphosa received a reprieve when members of Parliament voted against the panel’s recommendation that he face an impeachment hearing. At the time, Mr. Ramaphosa’s party, the African National Congress, held 230 of the 400 seats in Parliament. In all, 214 members voted against continuing with the inquiry, while 148 voted in favor.
The Economic Freedom Fighters, an opposition party, filed a court challenge to contest Parliament’s refusal to adopt the panel’s recommendation. That is the case on which the Constitutional Court ruled on Friday.