Politics
South Africa: President Jacob Zuma facing possibility of impeachment
South African President Jacob Zuma is ready to pay back the state funds used to upgrade his private home, his lawyer, Jeremy Gauntlett, said, as he urged South Africa’s highest court not to issue any ruling that opposition parties could exploit to begin impeachment proceedings.
Gauntlett revealed that Zuma fears he could be impeached if he admits that he broke the law by disregarding the Public Protector over his Nkandla home upgrades.
“This is a delicate time in a dangerous year,” Gauntlett, told the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday. While the opposition Democratic Alliance and Economic Freedom Fighters parties may try to bring impeachment proceedings against Zuma, “it would be wrong that this court be put in a position to make some wide order which can be used.”
Gauntlett spoke as the court considered a lawsuit by the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) seeking to obtain a ruling that Zuma violated South Africa’s constitution by failing to obey a finding by the nation’s graft ombudsman, the Public Protector, that he repay the state funds spent on upgrading his home.
During the hearing, thousands of protesters outside the chamber chanted “pay back the money.” The court adjourned to consider its ruling.
The case has focused national attention on the spending of 215.9 million rand (US$13.4 million) of taxpayers’ money to upgrade Zuma’s home in Nkandla in eastern KwaZulu-Natal province. The hearing takes place 2 days before Zuma gives his state-of-the-nation speech, which the Economic Freedom Fighters has threatened to disrupt for a second year.
The 2 main opposition parties are stepping up pressure on Zuma and his African National Congress (ANC) as they bid to win control of some of South Africa’s main cities in local elections scheduled between May and August.
“The president violated the constitution and there is no debate about that,” Julius Malema, the leader of the EFF, told reporters after the hearing. “Once this court makes an announcement that Zuma has violated the constitution, that is the end of it. There is no debate about it. If the ANC does not want to remove him, we will go to impeach him in parliament.”
Gauntlett told the court that the president accepted that the Public Protector’s recommendations must be carried out.
“We accept that she was not just making a recommendation but wanted something done,” he said. “Our stance is that it is action we must take.”
Zuma has said in the past that he never requested the upgrade and the police minister found that the renovations were security-related.
“There has been an abuse of public resources at an extraordinary scale by one person in a country where people can’t afford housing, health care and basic necessities,” the lawyer for the DA, Anton Katz, told the court. “It is a breakdown of the rule of law. There is a rule of man and a rule of law and this case is a clear example of the rule of man.”
There had been no discussion in the party’s caucus about impeaching the president, Katz said.
The ANC holds more than 60 percent of the seats in parliament, making a successful impeachment unlikely. Previous attempts by opposition parties to impeach Zuma have failed.
Source: Agencies