On Tuesday, the lawmakers rejected the motion to impeach Ramaphosa 214 to 148. Ramaphosa was largely supported by the majority-holding African National Congress (ANC), which prevented the motion from obtaining the two-thirds majority required to move forward with impeachment.
However, four ANC lawmakers demonstrated their disapproval of Ramaphosa by voting in favour of impeachment, and a few more chose to abstain from the vote.
The crucial vote came after a damning parliamentary report alleged that Ramaphosa illegally hid at least $580,000 in cash in a sofa at his Phala Phala game ranch. It said he did not report the theft of the money to the police in order to avoid questions over how he got the foreign currency and why he had not declared it to authorities.
The report has brought Ramaphosa’s opponents – opposition parties and even rivals within his ANC party – to call for him to step down.
The parliamentary vote comes in a week where Ramaphosa will also be fighting for his political life as he seeks to be re-elected the leader of the ANC at its national conference starting in Johannesburg on Friday.
The conference will also elect members of the party’s National Executive Committee, which is the party’s highest decision-making body.
Ramaphosa must be re-elected as the ANC leader in order to standfor re-election to a second term as South Africa’s president in 2024.