President Cyril Ramaphosa’s legal representative Advocate Wim Trengove has described the Section 89 Impeachment Committee as a political game.
Trengove is representing Ramaphosa in his application at the Western Cape High Court to set aside the Section 89 Independent Panel report.
The report found that there is prima facie evidence that Ramaphosa may have committed a serious violation of his oath of office regarding theft at his Phala Phala farm.
In his argument before the court, Trengove says the panel’s purpose was to filter out which allegations are worthy and which are not. He says there was no assessment of the quality of evidence and that politicians may have a political motive.
“These aren’t people seeking justice. They are politicians fighting a political war. And they would grasp at an opportunity of gunning for an opposition president. So, they’re often driven by political reasons,” says Trengove.
Trengove was making his argument about the lack of sufficient evidence in the report of the Independent Panel, which has been referred to the Impeachment Committee for impeachment proceedings against Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa is reviewing the report, and wants it to be set aside.
“Well, they sometimes have cited the president’s evidence, but you won’t ever get a weighing up. Fraser says this, but the president says that. Is there sufficient evidence against the president? Never! It’s never a qualitative assessment at all. They came to their conclusion of a prima facie case purely on the basis of the incriminating evidence,” argues Trengove.
Arthur Fraser is the person who filed a criminal complaint against Ramaphosa on the Phala Phala farm theft.
Western Cape High Court hears the review application of the Section 89 Independent Panel report:
