South Africa: Zuma survives impeachment vote

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma survived an impeachment vote Tuesday after a stormy session of parliament over a court ruling that he had violated the country’s post-apartheid constitution.

Lawmakers from Zuma’s African National Congress (ANC) rallied to his defence, defeating the motion by 233 votes to 143 despite growing pressure for him to resign over the scandal.

During the debate, Zuma was likened by the leader of the main opposition party to a “large and malignant tumor” on the ANC.

“When the highest court in the land ruled that the man occupying the highest office violated the constitution, it should have been the end of President Zuma,” Mmusi Maimane, leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), told the assembly.

Acknowledging that the ANC would use its overwhelming majority to defeat the impeachment motion, Maimane said that “when ANC legislators defend Zuma and his corrupt acts, they will show that they are complicit in the spread of the disease”.

He vowed the ANC, which convincingly won the 2014 general elections, would pay the price when voters return to the polls.

The Constitutional Court last week issued a damaging ruling against Zuma over spending of public funds on his private residence.

Speaking on behalf of the ANC, deputy justice minister John Jeffery said that any impeachment bid required a “serious violation” of the constitution. While “the Constitutional Court judgement stated that the president failed to uphold, defend and respect the Constitution”, it did not find a “serious” contravention, he said.

Zuma was not seriously threatened by the vote, which requires a two-thirds majority to succeed. But he has been wounded by a series of scandals and has endured a torrent of criticism that could see him fail to serve out the last 3 years of his final term.

He has been urged to resign by a number of senior ANC veterans who led the struggle against apartheid.

A 2014 report by the government-appointed Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, found that Zuma and his family had “unduly benefited” from the upgrades and ordered him to pay back the money, but Zuma stalled for 2 years.

After the court ruling, Zuma apologized in a national television address on Friday for the “frustration and confusion” caused by the affair. He was not in parliament for the impeachment debate, avoiding the chaotic scenes that have regularly erupted when he is present.

Previous disruptions have been sparked by Julius Malema’s left-leaning Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, which vowed last week that it would in future physically prevent the president from speaking in parliament.

Source: Agencies