Phala Phala committee selects Griffiths Madonsela as preferred evidence leader - Inside Politics
The parliamentary Impeachment Committee investigating President Cyril Ramaphosa’s handling of the theft of foreign currency from his private Phala Phala farm has recommended Advocate Thandazani Griffiths Madonsela SC as the preferred candidate to serve as the inquiry's evidence leader.
’s handling of the theft of foreign currency from his private Phala Phala farm has recommended Advocate Thandazani Griffiths Madonsela SC as the preferred candidate to serve as the inquiry’s evidence leader. Madonsela received nine votes, beating Advocate Kate Hofmeyr SC, who received seven, after the committee considered eight nominees who had indicated their availability. Eleven committee members abstained. Madonsela’s name will now be forwarded to Parliament for the formal appointment process. During the selection process, Madonsela disclosed that he had received a brief from a political party study group with an interest in the impeachment matter. He said he did not play a meaningful role and had mainly overseen legal opinions prepared by junior advocates. Madonsela said he had participated in only two opinions and that his role had been minimal. The senior advocate was nominated by the Economic Freedom Fighters, which commands two votes in the committee, and was supported by the uMkhonto weSizwe Party, which has three votes, as well as Build One South Africa, the African Christian Democratic Party, the African Transformation Movement and the United Africans Transformation. In supporting Madonsela’s nomination, MK Party parliamentary leader Dr John Hlophe registered his unhappiness about how Advocate Vuyani Ngalwana SC had been treated by members of the committee, saying their initially preferred candidate had been hard done by. “It seems that information adverse to him is being released on a piecemeal basis and have not been afforded an opportunity to deal with that information. So we record our unhappiness about how the process has been conducted in this regard,” said Hlophe. He added that Madonsela was suitably qualified to serve as evidence leader in the proceedings. Hofmeyr was nominated by the Democratic Alliance and supported by ActionSA and the Freedom Front Plus, but fell short by two votes. The African National Congress abstained from voting for either candidate. The Patriotic Alliance and Al Jama-ah also abstained. Madonsela is a prominent senior counsel and former member of the Judicial Service Commission. His areas of practice have included commercial, administrative and constitutional law, commissions of inquiry, civil litigation, insurance, labour law, land restitution and criminal law. If formally appointed, Madonsela will lead the presentation of evidence in Parliament’s Section 89 inquiry into whether grounds exist for Ramaphosa’s removal from office. He will also be expected to recommend two assistant evidence leaders to form part of the team conducting the inquiry. INSIDE POLITICS