The ANC appears to have moved rapidly into political containment mode following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to take the revived Section 89 impeachment process on judicial review, a development that now places the governing party’s internal management of the Phala Phala crisis at the centre of national politics.
The sequence of events that unfolded on Monday increasingly suggests a coordinated strategy aimed at politically cushioning Ramaphosa ahead of a potentially explosive ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting on Tuesday.
Within hours of National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza announcing that Parliament would comply with the Constitutional Court ruling and proceed with an impeachment committee, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula called a special NEC meeting.
Ramaphosa then used his national address to confirm that he would seek judicial intervention regarding the Section 89 process, fundamentally shifting the political terrain inside the ANC.
Ruling resurrect impeachment pathway
The Constitutional Court judgment on Friday had dramatically altered Ramaphosa’s position by reviving an impeachment pathway the ANC had effectively buried in December 2022 when it used its parliamentary majority to block adoption of the independent panel report chaired by retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo.
That panel had found there was prima facie evidence that Ramaphosa may have committed serious constitutional violations warranting further inquiry.
For nearly three years, Ramaphosa’s allies operated on the assumption that the matter had been politically neutralised. The Constitutional Court ruling shattered that assumption by ordering Parliament to restart the process through an impeachment committee.
But Ramaphosa’s review application now gives the ANC leadership a new political line of defence.
Instead of being forced to defend the substance of the Phala Phala allegations inside the NEC, Ramaphosa’s allies can now frame the matter as a pending legal dispute requiring procedural caution and institutional restraint. That distinction is politically critical.
Within ANC power structures, there is a significant difference between defending a president accused of misconduct and defending a sitting president’s constitutional right to challenge a parliamentary process in court.
Review gives president a breather
The review application effectively buys Ramaphosa political oxygen.
It allows his supporters to argue that the ANC should not entertain calls for resignation while legal proceedings are unfolding. In practice, this reframes Tuesday’s NEC discussion away from whether Ramaphosa is politically compromised and towards whether the organisation should allow legal processes to run their course.
Didiza’s statement on Monday becomes more politically significant in that context.
While she publicly reaffirmed Parliament’s commitment to implementing the constitutional court judgement, her announcement also stressed procedural arrangements, timelines, rule reviews and institutional processes.
That language now aligns neatly with Ramaphosa’s legal strategy.
Process faces legal entanglement
Parliament is complying with the court order, but the actual implementation process may become entangled in further litigation, rule amendments and procedural disputes. That creates space for delay, negotiation and political management.
The ANC has historically relied on this kind of procedural containment during moments of internal crisis.
From Jacob Zuma’s legal battles to integrity commission disputes and step-aside conflicts, the organisation has repeatedly used legal and procedural mechanisms to slow political escalation and prevent immediate rupture.
The difference now is that Ramaphosa’s authority is no longer anchored by overwhelming electoral dominance inside the ANC.
In 2022, when the Section 89 report first emerged, the ANC closed ranks behind him days before its Nasrec elective conference and used its parliamentary majority to defeat the impeachment push.
Today, Ramaphosa governs in a radically weakened political environment.
The ANC has fallen below 50% nationally. The Government of National Unity remains fragile. Internal succession battles continue beneath the surface. And the Constitutional Court judgment has resurrected a scandal that many inside the party believed had already been politically buried.
Reformist image under threat
The symbolism of the judgment is especially damaging because Ramaphosa’s presidency was built on a reformist image rooted in constitutional accountability after the Zuma era.
Now the country’s apex court has effectively found that Parliament unlawfully shielded him from scrutiny.
That creates a serious contradiction between Ramaphosa’s political brand and the institutional findings emerging around Phala Phala.
The immediate ANC objective therefore appears less about defeating the impeachment process outright and more about preventing panic inside the NEC.
Ramaphosa’s review application changes the internal psychology of the meeting.
If NEC members believe the president still has viable legal options, parliamentary protections and institutional support, pressure for resignation becomes easier to contain. The matter can be framed as sub judice, unresolved and politically manageable.
Without the review application, Tuesday’s NEC meeting risked becoming a direct political reckoning over Ramaphosa’s future.
With it, the ANC leadership now has a procedural shield behind which it can regroup.
The choreography of Monday’s events therefore appears highly deliberate.
Didiza signals parliamentary compliance. Mbalula consolidates the NEC. Ramaphosa launches a legal counteroffensive.
Taken together, the developments suggest that the ANC has shifted from crisis denial to crisis management — using the courts, parliamentary procedure and internal party discipline to try to take the immediate sting out of Phala Phala before it escalates into a full-blown leadership crisis.
- The ANC appears to have moved rapidly into political containment mode following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to take the revived Section 89 impeachment process on judicial review, a development that now places the governing party’s internal management of the Phala Phala crisis at the centre of national politics.
- The sequence of events that unfolded on Monday increasingly suggests a coordinated strategy aimed at politically cushioning Ramaphosa ahead of a potentially explosive ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting on Tuesday.
- Within hours of National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza announcing that Parliament would comply with the Constitutional Court ruling and proceed with an impeachment committee, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula called a special NEC meeting.
- Ramaphosa then used his national address to confirm that he would seek judicial intervention regarding the Section 89 process, fundamentally shifting the political terrain inside the ANC.
- Ruling resurrect impeachment pathway The Constitutional Court judgment on Friday had dramatically altered Ramaphosa’s position by reviving an impeachment pathway the ANC had effectively buried in December 2022 when it used its parliamentary majority to block adoption of the independent panel report chaired by retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo.
