Friday, 28 November 2025.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)  led a successful march to the Constitutional Court on 28 November 2025, where thousands of disciplined and determined fighters gathered to demand judicial accountability and the immediate release of the longoverdue Phala Phala judgment. Our people marched in defence of constitutionalism, the rule of law, and the principle that no individual, including the President of the Republic, is above the law.

Upon arrival at the Constitutional Court, the EFF formally handed over a comprehensive memorandum outlining the full trajectory of the Phala Phala scandal and the legal basis of our case. The memorandum traced the scandal from the February 2020 theft of undeclared foreign currency hidden in furniture at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s private farm, to the illegal cover-up orchestrated through the Presidential Protection Unit, the unlawful cross-border interventions in Namibia, the failure to declare foreign currency to the South African Reserve Bank and SARS, and the President’s violation of PRECCA and Section 96 of the Constitution.

The document further detailed how Parliament collapsed in its duty to hold the President accountable when the African National Congress (ANC) caucus rejected the Section 89 Independent Panel’s damning findings in December 2022, and how institutions such as SARS, the Public Protector, and the Reserve Bank bent themselves into contortions to shield Ramaphosa from scrutiny. It emphasised that the EFF, alongside the African Transformation Movement (ATM), approached the Constitutional Court precisely because the normal avenues of accountability had been corrupted and compromised.

The memorandum also restated the core of the EFF and ATM’s legal submissions before the Constitutional Court in November 2024: that Parliament acted irrationally and unlawfully when it rejected the Section 89 report without debate and without a secret ballot, thereby violating the Constitution and shielding the President from proper impeachment processes. We argued that MPs were denied the opportunity to vote independently and that the National Assembly failed in its constitutional duty to hold the Executive accountable.

Our memorandum highlighted that the Constitutional Court has now taken one full year without handing down judgment, a delay that is four times longer than the three-month period prescribed in the Norms and Standards for Judicial Officers under the Superior Courts Act. Such a delay is not only unacceptable; it is a direct threat to the integrity of the judiciary and the doctrine of equality before the law. At a time when serious allegations have emerged regarding corruption and compromised decision-making in certain parts of the judiciary, this silence deepens public mistrust and creates the dangerous perception that the courts are unwilling to act against the President.

The EFF made it clear in the memorandum that justice delayed is justice denied. The Constitutional Court cannot reserve judgment indefinitely on a matter that speaks to the constitutional procedure for impeaching a sitting President. As the EFF, we reiterated our call: the Constitutional Court must release the Phala Phala judgment now. 

The memorandum was officially handed over by the President of the Economic Freedom Fighters, CIC Julius Malema, and was received by the Constitutional Court Director, who accepted it on behalf of the Court.

The EFF will continue to demand the release of this judgement as its continued delay reflects that the President of the Republic of South Africa is above the law and threatens the fabric of our constitutional democracy.

ISSUED BY ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS

Sinawo Thambo (National Spokesperson) 072 629 7422

Thembi Msane (National Spokesperson) 061 467 8169

Andiswa Madikazi (Parliament Media Liason) 069 516 4924

Thato Lebyane (Media Inquiries) 078 563 1581