South Africa: Opposition parties pile pressure on Ramaphosa

Members of South African opposition parties walk out of a question and answer session by President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is facing claims of misconduct by hiding from police and tax authorities a 2020 break-in at one of his homes, and theft of large sums of foreign currency.

Ramaphosa denies wrongdoing in the scandal, but parliament is planning impeachment proceedings.

The MK party raised a point of order arguing that parliament should not be continuing under this backdrop and demands Ramaphosa quits - which he says he will not do.

The Constitutional Court last week said that, according to procedure, the 2022 independent report should have been referred to an impeachment committee for further investigation.

Impeaching the leader of Africa's top economy would require the support of at least two-thirds of lawmakers in the 400-member Parliament, according to the Constitution.

The multi-party impeachment committee still needs to conduct an investigation before any move to hold an impeachment vote. No time frame was given for that in Monday's Parliament statement.