The parliament vote on whether to launch impeachment proceedings against South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has been postponed, declared the assembly's speaker Nosiviwe Noluthando Mapisa-Nqakula.
According to him, the initially scheduled vote day was Tuesday, but "we have all agreed on [the date of] December 13." He noted that all the MPs needed time to travel to Cape Town, the legislative capital of the country.
The decision was made after the ANC, which has the majority in the parliament, expressed full support for Ramaphosa, saying that all its members will vote against impeachment.
Earlier in the day, it became known that the president has filed a case to the Constitutional Court, demanding that the parliamentary report accusing him of corruption and putting him under the threat of impeachment, be overturned.
In the filing, Ramaphosa reportedly asked that the conclusions of the report are "reviewed, declared illegal and not taken into account".
Both measures – full support of Ramaphosa from the ANC and taking a case to court against those alledging the president of felony – had been previously proposed by the ANC National Working Commitee, which consists of the party's top brass.
The so-called "Farmgate" corruption scandal has been running since June, when former South African State Security Agency chief Arthur Fraser accused the head of state of covering up a $4Mln burglary at his Phala Phala game farm, which had taken place in 2020. Along with accusations of other crimes, this led to the examination of the case by a legal panel and later Parliament.
According to the report prepared by the independent parliamentary commission, Ramaphosa "may have committed" illegal and anti-constitutional acts. The leader has denied all allegations. A criminal investigation has also been launched, but has not led to any charges against the president at this point.