Cyril Ramaphosa must resign – Julius Malema

EFF leader Julius Malema said that President Cyril Ramaphosa should resign, as facing an impeachment commission will unearth dark secrets.

Malema shared his views on Ramaphosa’s future during an interview with JJ Tabane on the Frank Dialogue podcast on 18 May 2026.

The trouble for Ramaphosa started after $580,000, hidden in a couch on his Phala Phala farm, was stolen.

On 1 June 2022, former head of the State Security Agency, Arthur Fraser, lodged a criminal complaint against Ramaphosa for defeating the ends of justice.

In 2022, a Section 89 Independent Panel found prima facie evidence that Ramaphosa may have committed serious misconduct and violated the Constitution.

It moved towards an impeachment process. However, the matter stalled in December 2022 when the National Assembly voted against adopting the panel’s findings.

The EFF and ATM challenged that parliamentary vote, and the Constitutional Court issued a landmark ruling.

The Constitutional Court ruled that Parliament acted unconstitutionally in 2022 when it voted to reject the independent report.

The court ordered that the Section 89 report be referred directly to an impeachment committee to determine if the President should be removed from office.

Following this order, President Ramaphosa launched an urgent legal bid in the Western Cape High Court to halt the parliamentary impeachment process.

Ramaphosa is seeking an order to review and set aside the original 2022 independent panel report, arguing that it misunderstood its mandate.

He also argues that the panel failed to exclude hearsay and improperly relied on Fraser’s allegations. Ramaphosa denies all accusations, saying he did nothing wrong.

Parliament’s impeachment committee faces delays while the Western Cape High Court considers the legal case.

It must decide whether the independent panel’s initial report was flawed or whether the parliamentary inquiry must proceed as directed by the Constitutional Court.

Julius Malema says President Cyril Ramaphosa should resign

During the Frank Dialogue podcast, Malema discussed the risks facing President Cyril Ramaphosa amid the impeachment process hanging over his head.

He advised Ramaphosa to resign rather than face the legal process linked to impeachment, as it would unearth dark secrets.

“If he doesn’t resign, it means he is fighting. Therefore, we will have to go and sit in that committee and fight,” Malema said.

“We are going to put Ramaphosa’s workers on the stand, and they will tell us all the stories, even the ones you don’t want to hear or don’t know about.”

He explained that many things unrelated to the $580,000 that was stolen may come out, which will not look good for Ramaphosa and his allies.

Malema likened it to the Madlanga Commission, which moved beyond its original investigation into matters tangential to the case.

“You are going to get what you are not looking for. That is what the Madlanga Commission and the ad hoc committee are dealing with.”

Instead of dark secrets being exposed, Malema said it makes sense for President Cyril Ramaphosa to resign.

“If he resigns, other politicians will lose interest in the case because Ramaphosa is no longer in their face,” he said.

Cyril Ramaphosa will resign if he faces an impeachment process – Prince Mashele

Political analyst Prince Mashele said President Cyril Ramaphosa will resign rather than face an impeachment process.

Mashele argued that Ramaphosa’s ongoing court challenges against the independent panel’s findings are a calculated effort to evade justice.

“The president is trying every trick in the legal book to have another day in office so that eventually he’s never arrested and he’s never tried,” he said.

He predicted that Ramaphosa would choose to step down rather than sit before a parliamentary committee.

“He is not going to subject himself to an impeachment process. He will resign. The moment he knows that he no longer has legal room to play, he will resign,” Mashele said.

He added that Ramaphosa has many skeletons in the closet, which he does not want to come out during any Parliamentary process.

“Cyril Ramaphosa is sitting on worms. He will never lift his body, because he does not want those worms to come out,” he said.

“If these worms were to come out, they would destroy him. They would also destroy the ANC.”