National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said on Tuesday advocate Mahlape Sello would replace Professor Richard Calland on the three-person panel that will determine whether there is prima facie evidence to institute an impeachment inquiry against President Cyril Ramaphosa.
National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said on Tuesday advocate Mahlape Sello would replace Professor Richard Calland on the three-person panel that will determine whether there is prima facie evidence to institute an impeachment inquiry against President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The panel otherwise comprises former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo and retired high court judge Thokozile Masipa and has 30 days from appointment to determine whether there is evidence that merits parliament establishing a committee, in terms of section 89 of the Constitution, to weigh whether the president should be subjected to an impeachment motion regarding the Phala Phala controversy.
Mapisa-Nqakula announced the panel on 14 September, immediately triggering vehement opposition from the Democratic Alliance and Economic Freedom Fighters, among others, to Calland being named as part of the panel, citing his long track record as a political commentator. He was nominated to serve on the panel by the Good Party.
Last week, the speaker told the National Assembly programming committee that she had received legal opinion on the matter and would revert with a decision later in the day. That did not happen.
On Tuesday, she issued a statement saying further to such opinion and submissions from political parties, she believed it best to exclude Calland, a law professor at the University of Cape Town, and a Mail & Guardian columnist of long standing.
“Having considered all the submissions from the political parties as well as the legal opinion, the speaker was of a view that, while there exists no factual basis to corroborate any perceived or apprehension of bias, the integrity of the work of the panel would be best served if Prof Calland is excluded from the panel,” her office said in a statement.
It added that Mapisa-Nqakula had communicated the decision to Calland “who has expressed his appreciation for consideration and has accordingly agreed to the decision”.
A statement issued by Calland shortly before the official communique from her office confirmed that he had left the decision up to her, though he believed that no reasonable apprehension of bias could be sustained.
Calland asserted, in the public statement, that he was a fiercely independent observer and a lawyer capable of assessing evidence impartially. He has in his commentary spoken in support of Ramaphosa’s reformist agenda, but has equally been scathing of the president in relation to the handling of the theft of foreign currency from his private Limpopo game farm.
He adopted the stance that the process was more important than any consideration of his part in it.
“However, this is not the only consideration. I have devoted my career to constitutional democracy and accountability and the rule of law,” Calland said.
“Accordingly, I do not want unnecessary controversy over my appointment to divert attention from the real issues that are at stake, or the possibility of undue delay arising from it, to clutter or otherwise impair the integrity of such an important constitutional process.”