The Speaker of the National Assembly, Thoko Didiza, has announced the next step in the National Assembly process regarding the composition of the Impeachment Committee, following the Constitutional Court judgment on the Phala Phala panel report last week.
This is in accordance with section 89 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.
Because the impeachment committee process is new territory for Parliament, the Speaker said she met with Chief Whips and political party representatives on Thursday morning to discuss how the committee should be made up.
Following these engagements, political parties have been requested to submit the names of members who will serve on the committee to the National Assembly Secretariat by the close of business on Friday, 22 May 2026.
“In determining the composition of the Impeachment Committee, the Speaker considered not only the constitutional principle of proportional representation but also the need for inclusivity and broad participation in this unprecedented parliamentary process,” said Didiza on Thursday.
“Accordingly, the determination seeks to balance traditional proportional representation with a measure of inclusivity, so as to ensure that smaller political parties – which may otherwise not be accommodated through a strict mathematical application of proportional representation – are also afforded representation and participation in the Committee’s work.”
The committee will be composed of 31 members from the 16 political parties represented in the National Assembly, constituted as follows: ANC (9); DA (5); MKP (3); EFF (2); IFP (1); PA (1); FF Plus (1); ActionSA (1); ACDP (1); UDM (1); RISE Mzansi (1); BOSA (1); ATM (1); Al-Jama-ah (1); NCC (1); UAT (1).
The Speaker has also referred the Constitutional Court judgment to the National Assembly Subcommittee on the Review of Rules to consider and process the amendments required to the Rules of the National Assembly.
Phala Phala judgment
On 30 November 2022, the independent panel appointed by then-NA speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula found that there is “prima facie” evidence that President Cyril Ramaphosa may have violated sections 96(2)(a) of the constitution and 34(1) of PRECCA, with the aim of keeping the investigation of the burglary at his farm in Limpopo private.
The panel, led by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, was tasked with investigating whether the president committed an impeachable offence related to the burglary at his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo in February 2020.
On 13 December 2022, the NA voted on whether to adopt the Phala Phala report. The majority of members voted against it.
214 MPs voted ‘no’, while 148 voted for ‘yes’, with two abstentions.
The EFF and ATM then approached the Constitutional Court in a bid to overturn the NA vote.
On Friday, 8 May, the Constitutional Court ruled that Parliament acted irrationally in rejecting the referral of a Section 89 panel report to an impeachment committee.
The parliamentary vote has now been set aside.
The judgment paved the way for an impeachment process against President Cyril Ramaphosa to proceed.
