CAPE TOWN - MK Party lawyer Dali Mpofu has urged the Western Cape High Court not to reverse or undermine work already done by the Constitutional Court in the long-running Phala Phala saga.
Mpofu made the appeal while delivering closing arguments in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s bid to overturn the findings of the Section 89 independent panel that investigated the controversy surrounding money stolen from his Phala Phala farm.
The review of the Phala Phala panel report entered its third day on Friday.
Earlier this year, the Constitutional Court found that Parliament acted unlawfully when it voted to reject the panel’s report, which concluded that Ramaphosa may have violated his oath of office in connection with the farm scandal.
READ | We are here to waste of time: Dali Mpofu on Phala Phala report review
Mpofu argued that the case was ultimately about accountability, constitutional limits and Parliament’s authority as the elected representative of South Africans.
Reading from the Constitutional Court judgment, Mpofu highlighted a passage emphasising that those who exercise power must themselves remain accountable.
“All powers have limits, and even the officers employed to support accountability must be held accountable in a state that propagates accountability and governance based on the will of the people,” Mpofu told the court.
He pointed to the court’s observation that society has long been concerned with holding people and institutions that control the levers of power to account.
Mpofu also warned the court against becoming part of a scheme to evade accountability.
Read more: An embarrassment imposed on our client: Ramaphosa's lawyer on Phala Phala