Cyril Ramaphosa

On 8 May 2026, the Constitutional Court ruled unconstitutional the parliamentary rule that had allowed the Phala Phala process to be prematurely halted, invalidated the 2022 vote and referred the panel's report back to the impeachment mechanism. In parallel, Ramaphosa continued his legal challenge seeking to have the panel's report set aside. The Western Cape High Court heard the challenge from 2 to 4 September 2026 and reserved judgment.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Ramaphosa enacted the Employment Equity Amendment Act in 2023, allowing numerical sectoral targets to be set for designated employers. Business and civil organisations challenged the scheme, equating it with quotas or arguing that it exceeded constitutional and statutory limits.

State of the evidence

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Directly implicated

Ramaphosa's enactment of the National Health Insurance Act prompted several legal challenges, particularly concerning the public participation process and the implications of the new scheme for healthcare funding and provision. In February 2026, in view of ongoing litigation, Ramaphosa agreed not to proclaim any section of the Act before the anticipated Constitutional Court judgments in cases heard in May.

State of the evidence

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Direct responsibility

Ramaphosa signed the Expropriation Act on 23 January 2025. The law, which provides for compensation that may be nil in certain circumstances, triggered strong domestic opposition and a diplomatic crisis with the US administration, with Donald Trump claiming that South Africa was confiscating land and suspending aid. In August 2026, the DA, despite being a coalition partner, challenged the law in court.

State of the evidence

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Political responsibility

In June 2025, Ramaphosa dismissed Andrew Whitfield, a deputy minister from the Democratic Alliance, triggering a confrontation with the ANC's main coalition partner. The DA denounced inconsistent treatment in light of allegations against certain ANC officials and threatened political consequences for the government of national unity.

State of the evidence

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Political responsibility

Several institutions subsequently issued findings favourable to Ramaphosa on separate aspects of Phala Phala. The Public Protector did not uphold the principal ethics complaints against him examined within her mandate; the South African Reserve Bank considered that there had been no perfected transaction on which to establish an exchange-control offence by the entity concerned or the president; in October 2024, the NPA decided not to prosecute anyone in the criminal case.

State of the evidence

Documented

Ramaphosa signed the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act in September 2024 despite opposition from the Democratic Alliance, a partner in the government of national unity, which considered, in particular, that the provisions on admissions and language threatened school autonomy and the coalition agreement. The dispute was presented as potentially destabilising the GNU.

State of the evidence

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Political responsibility

The DA applied to the Electoral Court, arguing that Ramaphosa's national address on 26 May 2024, three days before the election, had used presidential authority and resources to indirectly promote the ANC, in breach of the electoral code and the prohibition on using public funds for campaigning.

State of the evidence

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Directly implicated

The secret docking of the Russian vessel Lady R at Simon's Town and the US ambassador's public claim that weapons had been loaded aboard it triggered a diplomatic crisis and allegations that the Ramaphosa administration had provided military assistance to Russia despite its official position of non-alignment.

State of the evidence

Alleged

Faced with the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin and his planned participation in the BRICS summit in South Africa, Ramaphosa defended before the courts the pursuit of an exemption and argued that arresting Putin would expose the country to a risk of war with Russia. This position was criticised as an attempt to evade South Africa's obligations towards the ICC.

State of the evidence

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Political responsibility

In his February 2023 State of the Nation Address, Ramaphosa announced a national state of disaster in response to electricity load shedding. The measure prompted legal challenges and criticism concerning the risk of expanded emergency powers, public procurement and the potential for corruption or uncontrolled expenditure.

State of the evidence

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Political responsibility

The Zondo Commission's final report made critical observations about Ramaphosa's decisions while he was deputy president during the state capture era, particularly whether he had sufficiently investigated, protested or acted in response to signs of state capture. The controversy concerns his stated strategy of remaining in government while resisting from within.

State of the evidence

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Direct responsibility

Following the theft in February 2020 of foreign currency kept at Ramaphosa's Phala Phala farm, former intelligence chief Arthur Fraser filed a complaint in June 2022 accusing the president, among other things, of concealing the theft, using state security resources and committing financial offences. Ramaphosa acknowledged the theft but maintained that the funds came from a legitimate sale of game animals and denied any criminal conduct.

State of the evidence

Allegations

In November 2022, the independent panel established under Section 89 concluded that the information available to it established a prima facie case that Ramaphosa might have committed a serious violation of the Constitution or the law and serious misconduct in connection with Phala Phala. On 13 December, the National Assembly declined to adopt the report and therefore did not refer the matter at that time to an impeachment committee.

State of the evidence

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Directly implicated

In 2019, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane concluded, among other things, that Ramaphosa had misled Parliament and raised questions about disclosure and financial flows surrounding CR17. The report prompted considerable controversy over the financing of his internal campaign and the potential influence of donors.

State of the evidence

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Directly implicated

The disclosure of bank records linked to CR17 and their subsequent confidential treatment in litigation involving the Public Protector prompted a separate controversy over the opacity of funding for Ramaphosa's ANC presidential campaign and the identity of donors.

State of the evidence

Documented

Questioned in Parliament on 6 November 2018 about a payment of 500 000 rands linked to African Global Operations/Bosasa, Ramaphosa initially replied that it concerned a business relationship involving his son Andile. After checking, he wrote to the Speaker of the Assembly to correct that response: it was a donation from Gavin Watson to the internal CR17 campaign for the ANC presidency, paid through a trust account and, according to Ramaphosa, solicited without his knowing the donor's identity.

State of the evidence

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Directly implicated

Ahead of the ANC's 2017 elective conference, private emails attributed to Ramaphosa were circulated, fuelling allegations of multiple relationships and payments to young women. He publicly acknowledged a previous extramarital affair while rejecting the broader allegations and asserting that bank transfers presented as suspicious represented financial assistance provided by him and his wife to 54 students, both men and women.

Attribution

Personally implicated

As a non-executive director of Lonmin, Cyril Ramaphosa exchanged emails with company officials on 15 August 2012 and indicated that he had contacted the ministers of Police and Mineral Resources. The expression calling for "concomitant action" and the characterisation of the events as criminal fuelled allegations that his intervention had contributed to the police response that left 34 people dead the following day.

State of the evidence

Documented

Following his election as ANC deputy president and subsequent entry into the national executive, Ramaphosa had to address the risk of conflicts between his public duties and his interests in Shanduka, which was active particularly in energy and resources. He announced his complete withdrawal from Shanduka and the placing of other interests under independent management. In 2015, critics subsequently alleged that he had benefited from Eskom coal contracts while overseeing the government's response to the electricity crisis.

Attribution

Direct responsibility