The National Assembly will consider the report of the independent panel on Phala Phala, tasked with determining whether President Cyril Ramaphosa should be impeached, on 6 December, 10 days before the African National Congress's (ANC's) conference in Nasrec is set to begin. 

The panel's report, which should include recommendations to the National Assembly, was due on Thursday - but, on Wednesday, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula granted the panel until 30 November to complete its work.

The National Assembly rises for the year the very next day, and on Wednesday, it appeared unlikely that the panel's report would be considered by MPs before the ANC's conference, which starts on 16 December in Nasrec, Johannesburg.

Opposition MPs were none too pleased, and said they would do everything in their power to ensure that Parliament deals with the report before the year ends. 

On Wednesday, Mapisa-Nqakula met with the Chief Whips Forum, where she explained the panel's reasons for seeking an extension and why she had granted it. She left with the whips to arrange a date to deal with the report.

At Thursday's National Assembly Programming Committee meeting, programming whip and ANC MP Mina Lesoma informed the committee that another sitting would be arranged on 6 December, where the Section 89 report will be considered. The report will also be distributed to members before the sitting.

Last month, former president Thabo Mbeki cautioned that the ANC had to decide what should happen if the independent panel found Ramaphosa had a case to answer, and that the party could not shy away from the inevitable conversation around Ramaphosa's fate.

"As comrades know, they [the independent panel] have been given 30 days to do that. The 30 days will run out some time in the month of November. What happens if they say he has got a case to answer? What do we do?" Mbeki asked.

Unless opposition parties get their way at Thursday's National Assembly Programming Committee, Mbeki's point becomes moot in the run-up to Nasrec.

Mapisa-Nqakula ceded to a request by the panel's chairperson, former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, who, in a letter to her, "indicated that the panel had assessed the inquiry process to determine if it will meet the submission deadline of Thursday, 17 November 2022, and had, based on its assessment of the amount of ground still to be covered, and the available resources, determined that the inquiry should be completed within 13 days, that is by 30 November 2022", according to a statement from parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo.

"The panel said the additional time requested was realistic, taking into account the importance of the inquiry, its complexity, as well as the novelty of the nature of work involved."

The panel further believes that it is in the public interest that an inquiry of this nature "be scrupulously conducted and all the information and submissions placed before it be carefully considered".

Mapisa-Nqakula agreed to extend the deadline for the panel's report from 17 November to 30 November.

"The Speaker concurs with the panel chairperson that the extreme importance of the panel's work to the members of the National Assembly, the president and the people of South Africa required the panel to carefully consider all the information and submissions placed before it," said Mothapo.

Opposition parties are not happy.

Democratic Alliance chief whip Siviwe Gwarube said on Wednesday that she would "make the case" at Thursday morning's meeting of the National Assembly Programming Committee that Parliament's programme must be extended to deal with the report.

"The matter cannot be delayed or deferred to next year. It is urgent. No sitting president should have a question of whether or not he broke the law and, by extension, his oath of office hanging over his head," she said.

She added that the National Assembly's rules for the Section 89 process compelled the Speaker to table the report before the House urgently. Gwarube said it only made sense that this was then done in the first week of December.

She said the DA would reach out to other opposition parties, who have been calling for accountability on this matter, to support the call to extend Parliament's programme.

"While Parliament has followed the rules on this process thoroughly, we cannot allow delays now that may be politically motivated. We are a separate arm of state; one that holds the executive to account. We should do so regardless of who has a case to answer for."

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has, without providing any substantiation, accused Mapisa-Nqakula of "conniving" with the independent panel to extend the deadline.

"The extension effectively means that the report cannot be tabled and heard in Parliament this year, as the fourth term of Parliament ends on the 1st of December 2022," the party said in a statement.

"This is yet another delay tactic, objectively to ensure that Ramaphosa is not held accountable before his internal political party elective conference. It is a collusion to protect Ramaphosa from scrutiny and not jeopardise his desire to secure a second term as the leader of the ruling party.

"Ramaphosa and his allies are determined to avoid accountability, and the deliberate reluctance to release reports and findings by the Acting Public Protector, the South African Reserve Bank, the National Prosecuting Authority and now the Independent Panel, is part and parcel of the nefarious strategy of delaying justice."

The EFF said it would "work tirelessly" to ensure the report is tabled before Parliament this year and will "exhaust all avenues", including an urgent sitting of Parliament, "to be appraised on whether the president has broken his oath of office".

Both Gwarube and her counterpart from the EFF, Floyd Shivambu, expressed their satisfaction that the report will be heard on 6 December at the Prorgamming Committee meeting on Thursday morning. 

The panel, consisting of Ngcobo, Judge Thokozile Masipa and advocate Mahlape Sello SC, was appointed after the ATM brought a motion in terms of Section 89 of the Constitution to remove Ramaphosa in the wake of the Phala Phala scandal.

In its submission for a motion, the ATM said: "It is common cause that [former spy boss] Mr Arthur Fraser has submitted evidence at the Rosebank police station where the president is implicated in serious crimes, including bribery, money laundering, kidnapping, breaching of customs and excise laws, breaching of SARS regulations, breaching the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, defeating the ends of justice, to mention but a few."

The ATM contended that Ramaphosa had violated Section 83(b) of the Constitution, which enjoins him, as head of state, to uphold, defend and respect the Constitution as the supreme law of the Republic.

The party also argued that Ramaphosa had violated Section 96(2)(a) of the Constitution, which states that Cabinet members and deputy ministers may not "undertake any other paid work".

The panel must determine whether there is a prima facie case for Ramaphosa's removal. In terms of the rules, it has 30 days to do this.

While Mapisa-Nqakula appointed the panel on 14 September, it only started its work a month later, on 17 October.

Before the panel got going, the DA and EFF raised concerns about the alleged bias towards Ramaphosa on the part of one of the nominees for the independent panel, Professor Richard Calland. After a discussion with Mapisa-Nqakula, Calland withdrew.

Mapisa-Nqakula appointed Sello to replace Calland.

Mapisa-Nqakula was mindful that the National Assembly's rules for the Section 89 process did not provide for the extension of the panel's deadline. In this regard, she invoked Rule 6 - which deals with unforeseen circumstances - to accede to the panel's request.

In terms of this rule, the Speaker may give a ruling or frame a rule in respect of any eventuality for which the rules or orders of the House do not provide, having due regard to the procedures, precedents, practices and conventions developed by the House and on the basis of constitutional values and principles underpinning an open, accountable and democratic society.

There is also a precedent for extending such a panel's deadline.

Mapisa-Nqakula's predecessor, Thandi Modise, extended the deadline of the independent panel, which had to consider whether there was a prima facie case for Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's impeachment, by 60 days.