Makashule Gana — the man with President Ramaphosa’s head in his hands

Rise Mzansi MP Makashule Gana will chair the impeachment committee that will decide President Cyril Ramaphosa’s future.

Here’s an MP with the future in his hands: Rise Mzansi’s Makashule Gana, who was on Monday elected as chairperson of Parliament’s Section 89 impeachment committee.

The members of the committee include some of Parliament’s most robust MPs, including EFF leader Julius Malema; the new DA chief whip, Glynnis Breytenbach and its parliamentary leader, George Michalakis; the leader of MK and the official opposition, John Hlophe; the Build One SA leader, Mmusi Maimane; and ActionSA’s Lerato Ngobeni.

Gana will have his work cut out for him. We asked him how he will run things.

Question: How do you feel being the man with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s head in your hands?

Answer: It’s a responsibility I accept with both hands. I have the task of ensuring the work proceeds without fear, favour or prejudice in open participation by MPs and witnesses. The rules we will come up with must restore trust in Parliament.

Q: You’ve held quite a few challenging roles in your time as a political leader. Is this the biggest? [Gana is a seasoned political leader who left the DA after holding numerous roles to join Rise Mzansi in 2024. He started his political career in the student movement Sasco and early ANC structures.]

A: I have just been elected and have not yet carried the load, so can’t say. I have completed the Comrades Marathon, and I am fit for the role. Working with the team in Parliament, we will produce a report that South Africans will feel represented by.

Q. What’s at stake here? Rise Mzansi leader Songezo Zibi said the task required seriousness and solemnity. Why those two specific words?

A: The committee must not be used for political grandstanding. The report must show we take the people of SA seriously. It is the first impeachment committee, so it lays the ground for the future. It’s foundational work.

In my language, it’s not just making noise. Mintirho ya Vulavula.

Q: What will your first reaction be if legal papers thump down on your desk: the President’s been advised to interdict the commission’s proceedings?

A: I said when I accepted the election, we will focus on the things that are in the control of Parliament. If the courts make a determination, we will respect the court’s decision. For now, there are no papers in front of me. We start tomorrow [2 June], when I meet the team.

Q: The Committee has some personalities with capital Ps. How do you intend to chair, and what have you learnt from some of the mistakes made in the ad hoc committee which sat to interrogate the claims made by General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi? Zibi said your appointment means there will be no political theatre — we certainly saw enough of that in those proceedings.

A: The thing is to give members [a chance to] be heard. They do not need to be loud. They will get a chance to be heard, and I will listen — my role is not to talk but to listen. We are members of a committee, and we are all determined to get to the truth.

Q: What are the next steps: the appointment of an evidence leader, the change to the parliamentary rules? When do hearings start?

A: I don’t have timelines at this stage. The subcommittee on rules will meet on Thursday [to amend a rule about impeachment as directed by the Constitutional Court]. Before this term ends, the rules will be amended, and then we can start the work. That work will be done in parallel.

When you interact with witnesses, you may find further evidence emerging. There’s that aspect. We need to do this thing properly because it’s the first time it is being done.

The Section 194 process on [former Public Protector Busisiwe] Mkhwebane shows this won’t be a two-week process. The evidence will be examined. The President will have legal advisers who will want to examine the evidence. It’s not going to be a short process. [Section 194 of the Constitution sets out the process for the removal of the head of a Chapter 9 institution.]

Q: Rise Mzansi plays nice-nice with the ANC — and not always with its reformist or renewal wing. In Gauteng, for example, you’ve entered a coalition government that has put a questionable EFF leader (in my view) into a seat of power and assisted the premier, Panyaza Lesufi, in passing a budget.

Can you take the tough road if needed? [The Gauteng finance MEC, Nkululeko Dunga, is an EFF provincial chairperson who was a risible finance MMC in the industrial city of Ekurhuleni.]

A: Our advantage is we can build bridges with everyone. To ensure my election as committee chairperson, it needed the support of the DA, IFP, PA, FF+, Al Jama-ah, and FF+, so it wasn’t just the ANC.

We are informed first and foremost by what’s in the best interests of SA. There’s no one I don’t talk to: I talk to the MK, I talk to EFF. We are not anti-this or that; we are pro-South Africa.

The ANC has nine seats, and I received 19 votes.

Q: The leader of the official opposition, MP John Hlophe, doesn’t believe that you will be able to be dispassionate or independent. Your view?

A: Judge me on what I do. Let the work speak. I am loyal to the Constitution and to the people of this country. DM

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المصدر: The Namibian