Malema Accuses ConCourt of Stalling on Phala Phala Ruling, Demands Ramaphosa's Impeachment
Johannesburg – Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has launched a scathing attack on the Constitutional Court (ConCourt), accusing the country's highest court of deliberately delaying its ruling on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala scandal.
The EFF leader's criticism came as EFF leaders and supporters marched through Johannesburg on Friday, converging at the ConCourt in Braamfontein. Their mission was to deliver a memorandum demanding the immediate release of the long-awaited Phala Phala judgment.
Addressing the crowd, Malema led chants of “down with Ramaphosa”, “down with ANC” and “down with DA”, making his party's stance unequivocally clear.
Malema argued that the ConCourt's failure to deliver judgments promptly undermines constitutional principles. "For more than a year, the Constitutional Court, the highest court in the land, cannot produce a simple judgment," he stated, questioning the court's credibility and its ability to hold lower courts accountable when it fails to meet its own deadlines.
"How do you say those who fall under you must release a judgment after three months when the matter is concluded, but you can take the whole year?" Malema asked rhetorically. "If you say the law courts must take three months, you must take two months to show them that you are leading by example and they must follow your example. Justice delayed is justice denied."
Malema did not hold back in his assessment of President Ramaphosa, branding him "a criminal occupying the office of the president". He referenced the recent arrest of Gauteng High Court Judge Portia Phahlane on corruption charges, suggesting that it was proof that judicial officers could be compromised. "Now, we have proof that judges can be corrupt. Why are these judges so scared of Cyril Ramaphosa?" he questioned.
He further criticised the court for prioritising judgments on other cases that were heard after the Phala Phala matter. Malema reiterated the widely reported details of the Phala Phala scandal, stating that it was no secret that $580,000 hidden in a couch was stolen at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo. Mockingly, he asked, "How can the sofa be safer than the safe itself?"
The EFF leader also demanded the arrest of the outgoing National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), Shamila Batohi, accusing her of obstructing justice after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) declined to pursue charges against the president.
Malema insisted that the section 89 independent panel had found that Ramaphosa had a case to answer regarding the February 2020 burglary, despite Parliament rejecting the report that could have initiated impeachment proceedings. "The impeachment processes must kick in and the president must go and answer," Malema declared, adding that the ANC’s use of its majority to block the report’s adoption did not mean the decision was rational. "Let this matter go back to Parliament."
He dismissed the idea that a motion of no confidence would be sufficient, arguing that Ramaphosa would still retain presidential benefits. Instead, he insisted that impeachment was the only appropriate course of action. "That’s what we want because this man, he has eaten enough," Malema stated. "He can’t go home and eat our money, he must go home empty handed and continue to eat his dollars outside the office of the president."
The EFF’s Statement on a Successful March and Handover of Memorandum to the Constitutional Court
-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… pic.twitter.com/76QTNzwIZQ
— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) November 28, 2025
Malema concluded his address by singing the controversial apartheid-era chant, Dubul’ ibhunu (Shoot the Boer, kill the Boer).
Earlier in the week, Chief Justice Mandisa Maya addressed concerns about the delay in the Phala Phala judgment, assuring the public that there was “nothing sinister” about the time taken to finalise the judgment. Her statement, however, appears to have done little to quell the EFF's suspicions and demands for accountability.
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