National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza (pictured) has rejected allegations by Vuyo Zungula that she met with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s lawyers, describing the claims as false, unwarranted and defamatory.

• Speaker of the National Assembly Thoko Didiza rejected claims by ATM parliamentary leader Vuyo Zungula that she met with the president about the ConCourt's ruling on Phala Phala.
• Zungula wanted Didiza to recuse herself from oversight processes related to the impeachment committee.
• Didiza says Zungula's allegations are based on “pure speculation” and appeared calculated to cast doubt on her integrity and the credibility of the impeachment process.

Speaker of the National Assembly Thoko Didiza has labelled claims by ATM parliamentary leader Vuyo Zungula about a meeting between herself and lawyers for the president as “false, unwarranted and defamatory”.

Didiza responded publicly to Zungula’s calls on Tuesday.

On Monday, Zungula told journalists during a media briefing that Didiza needed to recuse herself from the landmark process over allegations that she met with lawyers for President Cyril Ramaphosa. This followed a meeting of opposition parties, where this issue came up.

In a statement, Didiza labelled the call by Zungula as “unjustified”.

“Mr Zungula has alleged that the Speaker met with lawyers representing President Cyril Ramaphosa following the Constitutional Court judgment relating to the Phala Phala matter and is therefore incapable of acting impartially in her capacity as Speaker,” read her statement.

READ | Opposition parties want Speaker Thoko Didiza recused from Phala Phala oversight process

Didiza said the allegations are “entirely false, without any factual basis, and appear to rely solely on tabloid reporting”.

“The Speaker reiterates that she has never met with the legal representatives of the president, either as alleged by Mr Zungula or in any other context relating to this matter.”

In a parliamentary committee meeting on 22 May, the SABC reported that Didiza, there, too, dismissed claims she met with the president’s lawyers. She said she visited the ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters on a Monday as part of her political activities.

Addressing her being at an ANC meeting, Didiza said: “The Speaker is a member of Parliament elected by the African National Congress (ANC), as all members of the National Assembly are elected through a proportional representation system on behalf of their respective political parties. The Speaker also serves as a member of the ANC's national executive committee and national working committee and is therefore required to attend meetings of these structures as part of her political responsibilities.”

Didiza said party meetings by MPs were “lawful, normal and entirely consistent with South Africa’s constitutional democracy and multiparty political system”.

Didiza said:

Didiza said while Zungula continued to “advance these unfounded claims in the media, the Speaker has diligently complied with every directive arising from the Constitutional Court judgment, without delay or hesitation”.

She pointed to Monday’s election of Rise Mzansi’s Makashule Gana as chairperson of the impeachment committee as part of compliance with the Constitutional Court’s order to restart the impeachment process.

Earlier in May, the apex court effectively paved the way for impeachment proceedings to be conducted against the president after claims that he committed serious misconduct in the cover-up of a robbery at his private game farm in Limpopo in 2020.