{"id":36341,"date":"2026-06-05T15:52:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T13:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=36341"},"modified":"2026-06-05T15:52:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T13:52:51","slug":"sub-judice-rule-unlikely-to-halt-sa-parliaments-phala-phala-impeachment-process","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/sub-judice-rule-unlikely-to-halt-sa-parliaments-phala-phala-impeachment-process\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Sub judice rule unlikely to halt SA Parliament&#8217;s Phala Phala impeachment process\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The sub judice rule is unlikely to prevent Parliament&#8217;s Impeachment Committee from continuing its work on the Phala Phala matter, according to Lawson Naidoo, Executive Secretary of the Council for the Advancement of the South African (SA) Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>His comments come after President Cyril Ramaphosa&#8217;s review application of the Section 89 Independent Panel report was scheduled to be heard in the Western Cape High Court from September 2 to 4, 2026. Meanwhile, Parliament&#8217;s Impeachment Committee has elected Rise Mzansi Chief Whip Makashule Gana as its Chairperson.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Naidoo said the sub judice rule has changed significantly over the years and is primarily intended to protect the integrity of court proceedings by limiting external influence on matters before the courts.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He argued that it is highly unlikely Parliament could invoke the rule to suspend the committee&#8217;s work on the Phala Phala matter, noting that the case has already been the subject of extensive public debate and legal analysis.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>According to Naidoo, Ramaphosa&#8217;s review application can proceed in court without necessarily affecting the committee&#8217;s impeachment-related processes, as there has already been considerable public discussion about the merits and prospects of the review.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12536,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-36341","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Sub judice rule is unlikely to prevent Parliament's Impeachment Committee from continuing its work on the Phala Phala matter","published_date":"2026-06-05 15:52:04","news_description":"Sub judice rule is unlikely to prevent Parliament's Impeachment Committee from continuing its work on the Phala Phala matter","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36342,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36341\/revisions\/36342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=36341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}