Rise Mzansi’s chief organiser Makashule Gana has been elected chairperson of the 31-member impeachment committee which is set to determine President Cyril Ramaphosa’s fate in the Phala Phala farm saga.
Makashule led fellow nominee and United Africans Transformation member Wonderboy Mahlatsi by seven votes in parliament on Monday, receiving 19 votes.
“I usually start off by saying thank you chairperson, but now I have become the chairperson. I want to thank all the members and everyone who participated in this process. The work has just begun,” Gana said after the vote.
“The Section 89 committee work is now in progress, and the things that are in our control, we’ll ensure that they are done. Those that are outside of our control will be done by those bodies,” the committee’s chairperson added.
Gana said while there are processes that are on the go with regard to the rules, they will “not stop the work of the committee as they will work in parallel”.
The election of the chairperson came as President Ramaphosa heads to court to request a judicial review of the Section 89 Independent Panel Report, on which the impeachment inquiry is based.
The Constitutional Court sent the Section 89 panel’s report on the Phala Phala scandal back to parliament last month, leaving room for an impeachment process against Ramaphosa to proceed.
This is a developing story
