South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has won a temporary legal reprieve after the Western Cape High Court ordered Parliament to suspend impeachment proceedings against him over the controversial Phala Phala farm cash scandal.

The court on Friday granted an interim order restraining Parliament's Section 89 impeachment committee from continuing its public hearings while it considers Ramaphosa's application to review the findings of an independent panel that recommended further investigation into his conduct.

The review application is scheduled to be heard in September, meaning the impeachment process will remain on hold until the court delivers its ruling.

The impeachment inquiry stems from the 2020 theft of approximately **$580,000** that had been concealed inside a sofa at Ramaphosa's Phala Phala game farm. The President has consistently maintained that the money was proceeds from the legitimate sale of buffaloes and has denied any wrongdoing.

The parliamentary impeachment process was revived after South Africa's Constitutional Court ruled earlier this year that Parliament had acted unlawfully when it abandoned impeachment proceedings in 2022 following the release of an independent panel's report.

The panel had concluded that there was prima facie evidence suggesting Ramaphosa may have committed serious violations of the Constitution or the law, prompting lawmakers to reopen the impeachment process.

In Friday's judgment, a majority of the three-judge bench held that Ramaphosa had satisfied the legal requirements for interim relief. However, one judge dissented, arguing that the President's application should have been dismissed.

The court consequently ordered the Section 89 committee to suspend all impeachment proceedings until the legality of the independent panel's report has been determined through the judicial review.

Reacting to the ruling, Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said Ramaphosa respected the court's decision and remained committed to allowing the legal process to run its course.

While the ruling temporarily halts the impeachment proceedings, it does not bring them to an end. The inquiry will resume depending on the outcome of the judicial review expected in September.

Political analysts, however, believe Ramaphosa is unlikely to be removed from office, as his governing African National Congress (ANC) retains sufficient parliamentary support to defeat any eventual impeachment motion.