Hearing both sides is only proper but can make it hard to know who or what to believe.
The panel that has recommended parliament proceed with an inquiry to determine whether there was cause in the Phala Phala scandal to remove President Cyril Ramaphosa from office found itself in this position.
So do those who have read both their report and the president’s application to the apex court to have it reviewed and set aside.
The president’s founding affidavit makes forceful arguments.
One of them is that the panel chaired by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo need not have ventured far into the conflict between the submissions of opposition parties calling for his removal, rooted in allegations made by former intelligence chief Arthur Fraser, and his own explanation of the provenance of the foreign currency stolen from his farm in February 2020.
The panel noted at the outset that it could not take Fraser’s claim that the money came from foreign states, not a Christmas Day cattle sale, at face value because he did not give a source for the information. But nor, it said, would it be fair to ignore it.
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