By Nellie Peyton and Anathi Madubela
JOHANNESBURG, May 28 (Reuters) - South Africa's parliament has scheduled for Monday the first meeting of an impeachment committee that will probe allegations around President Cyril Ramaphosa's "Farmgate" scandal, the Democratic Alliance party said on Thursday.
The meeting is the next stage in an impeachment process against Ramaphosa that was revived by the Constitutional Court this month, in a setback for the leader for whom the affair has been a major embarrassment during his presidency.
Ramaphosa has denied wrongdoing in the scandal, in which bundles of cash were stolen from a sofa on his farm in 2020, raising questions about where he had acquired the money and why it was hidden in furniture.
"The good thing is that parliament seems to be moving forward," said DA parliamentary leader George Michalakis.
The first order of business for the committee's 31 members will be to elect a chairperson, he said, adding: "The DA's strong opinion is that it shouldn't be someone from the ANC."
The DA is the second-biggest party in a coalition government with Ramaphosa's African National Congress party, but the DA remains critical of the president and has said it will hold him accountable for any findings of wrongdoing.
RAMAPHOSA COULD TRY TO HALT IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS
A parliament spokesperson and Ramaphosa's spokesperson declined comment.
Ramaphosa on Tuesday filed a legal challenge against an independent panel report which found preliminary evidence he had committed misconduct, which some legal analysts said may delay the impeachment proceedings.
The president has also threatened to seek an urgent court order to halt impeachment proceedings if parliament moves ahead with the process while his legal challenge is pending.
The ANC holds about 40% of seats in the National Assembly, which means it should be able to shoot down any eventual impeachment vote, which would require a two-thirds majority to pass. The party's leadership has said it fully backs the president.
But the ANC holds only 9 seats out of 31 seats on the impeachment committee.
(Additional reporting by Nilutpal Timsina and Sfundo Parakozov;Editing by Alexander Winning and Gus Trompiz)
