The National Assembly will consider the report of the independent panel on Phala Phala, tasked with determining whether President Cyril Ramaphosa should be impeached, on 6 December, 10 days before the African National Congress's (ANC's) conference in Nasrec is set to begin.

The panel's report, which should include recommendations to the National Assembly, was due on Thursday - but, on Wednesday, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula granted the panel until 30 November to complete its work.

The National Assembly rises for the year the very next day, and on Wednesday, it appeared unlikely that the panel's report would be considered by MPs before the ANC's conference, which starts on 16 December in Nasrec, Johannesburg.

Opposition MPs were none too pleased, and said they would do everything in their power to ensure that Parliament deals with the report before the year ends.

On Wednesday, Mapisa-Nqakula met with the Chief Whips Forum, where she explained the panel's reasons for seeking an extension and why she had granted it. She left with the whips to arrange a date to deal with the report.

At Thursday's National Assembly Programming Committee meeting, programming whip and ANC MP Mina Lesoma informed the committee that another sitting would be arranged on 6 December, where the Section 89 report will be considered. The report will also be distributed to members before the sitting.

Last month, former president Thabo Mbeki cautioned that the ANC had to decide what should happen if the independent panel found Ramaphosa had a case to answer, and that the party could not shy away from the inevitable conversation around Ramaphosa's fate.

"As comrades know, they [the independent panel] have been given 30 days to do that. The 30 days will run out some time in the month of November. What happens if they say he has got a case to answer? What do we do?" Mbeki asked.

Unless opposition parties get their way at Thursday's National Assembly Programming Committee, Mbeki's point becomes moot in the run-up to Nasrec.

Mapisa-Nqakula ceded to a request by the panel's chairperson, former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, who, in a letter to her, "indicated that the panel had assessed the inquiry process to determine if it will meet the submission deadline of Thursday, 17 November 2022, and had, based on its assessment of the amount of ground still to be covered, and the available resources, determined that the inquiry should be completed within 13 days, that is by 30 November 2022", according to a statement from parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo.

"The panel said the additional time requested was realistic, taking into account the importance of the inquiry, its complexity, as well as the novelty of the nature of work involved."

The panel further believes that it is in the public interest that an inquiry of this nature "be scrupulously conducted and all the information and submissions placed before it be carefully considered".

Mapisa-Nqakula agreed to extend the deadline for the panel's report from 17 November to 30 November.

"The Speaker concurs with the panel chairperson that the extreme importance of the panel's work to the members of the National Assembly, the president and the people of South Africa required the panel to carefully consider all the information and submissions placed before it," said Mothapo.

Opposition parties are not happy.

Democratic Alliance chief whip Siviwe Gwarube said on Wednesday that she would "make the case" at Thursday morning's meeting of the National Assembly Programming Committee that Parliament's programme must be extended to deal with the report.

"The matter cannot be delayed or deferred to next year. It is urgent. No sitting president should have a question of whether or not he broke the law and, by extension, his oath of office hanging over his head," she said.

She added that the National Assembly's rules for the Section 89 process compelled the Speaker to table the report before the House urgently. Gwarube said it only m...