CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA — The uMkhonto weSizwe Party has suffered a fresh legal setback in the battle over President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala impeachment process after the Western Cape High Court refused it permission to appeal an interim order blocking Parliament’s impeachment committee from holding public hearings.

The court dismissed the MK Party and United Africans Transformation’s application for leave to appeal on Friday, 28 August 2026, finding that they had not shown compelling reasons for the matter to proceed to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

The decision leaves the interim restriction on public hearings in place while Ramaphosa pursues his main review application challenging the findings of the Section 89 independent panel that examined the Phala Phala matter.

Public hearings remain halted

The Western Cape High Court granted Ramaphosa an interim interdict on 24 July preventing Parliament’s impeachment committee from proceeding with public hearings under Rule 129M of the National Assembly rules.

The order did not shut down the committee entirely.

The committee is still permitted to continue preparatory work while the court considers the president’s challenge to the panel report.

According to the latest judgment, the committee’s work has not yet reached a stage where public hearings are imminent.

The court noted that its terms of reference still have to be considered, Ramaphosa has raised an objection regarding the proposed chief evidence leader, and assistant evidence leaders had not yet been appointed.

MK Party wanted Supreme Court of Appeal challenge

The MK Party argued that the court had gone too far by interfering with a parliamentary process intended to hold the president accountable.

But the full bench rejected that argument as a basis for granting leave to appeal.

Judges André le Grange, Matthew Francis and Diane Davis concluded that the main question still needing to be determined is whether the Section 89 panel report itself should be reviewed and set aside.

An appeal against the temporary restriction on public hearings would not resolve that core dispute.

The court also found that the main review could be determined before an appeal against the interim order was able to progress through the appellate system.

Ramaphosa’s main Phala Phala case returns next week

The legal fight now shifts to Ramaphosa’s substantive review application, which is scheduled to be heard by the Western Cape High Court from 2 to 4 September 2026.

Ramaphosa wants the court to overturn findings made by the Section 89 independent panel.

That panel concluded that the president may have a case to answer concerning events surrounding the theft of foreign currency from his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo in February 2020.

Approximately $580,000 was reported stolen from the property.

The controversy has followed Ramaphosa for years and remains one of the most politically sensitive disputes involving his presidency.

Interim order could soon fall away

The High Court stressed that the current restriction is temporary.

Once judgment is delivered in Ramaphosa’s main review application, the interim order preventing public hearings will lapse.

That timing was central to the court’s refusal to allow the latest appeal.

Judge Matthew Francis said an appeal running alongside the main review could create additional costs and litigation without bringing the central dispute any closer to resolution.

The court considered the fact that the Constitutional Court had already refused a direct appeal relating to the interim order.

On 12 August, the Constitutional Court declined an application involving the African Transformation Movement and Economic Freedom Fighters.

Francis said that decision was relevant, although it did not alone determine the outcome of the MK Party’s application.

Phala Phala battle far from over

The latest ruling does not bring the impeachment dispute to an end.

Instead, attention now turns to next week’s hearing, where Ramaphosa will attempt to persuade the court that the parliamentary panel report underpinning the impeachment process was legally flawed.

If he succeeds, the foundation of the current impeachment inquiry could be significantly affected.

If he fails, Parliament could eventually be able to move ahead with the process once the temporary court restriction falls away, although further appeals remain possible.

The stakes are therefore considerably higher in the proceedings scheduled for September.

For the MK Party, however, Friday’s ruling represents another immediate defeat in its attempt to get the impeachment hearings moving before Ramaphosa’s main court challenge is decided.

This is a developing political and legal story.

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