South Africa Court Halts Ramaphosa Impeachment Probe

The Constitutional Court of South Africa denied urgent applications from several political parties, including the African Transformation Movement and Economic Freedom Fighters, to appeal a lower court ruling that halted a parliamentary impeachment inquiry into President Cyril Ramaphosa. The probe centers on the president's handling of a 2020 burglary at his Phala Phala game farm, where approximately $580,000 was stolen.

The apex court ruled that intervening is not in the interests of justice while a judicial review of the Section 89 independent panel report remains pending in the Western Cape Division of the High Court. This review, scheduled for September 2 to 4, will determine if the findings against Ramaphosa should be set aside. Impeachment committee chairman Makashule Gana confirmed the committee will remain paused and proceed in accordance with the High Court's eventual determination.

In a separate matter, internal communications and source code reviews revealed that the e-commerce startup Phia, co-founded by Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, used deceptive cookie stuffing to inflate revenue. The company implemented Auto Drop features to inject tracking cookies without user interaction to claim unauthorized commissions. While Phia claimed the issue was a bug discovered in July, records suggest the founders were aware of the practice since December. Following these revelations, affiliate network Impact.com suspended Phia, and the startup began reversing commissions to retailers.