(MENAFN- Gulf Times) South Africa's top court has ruled that parliament had failed to hold
President Jacob Zuma accountable for using public money for private home
upgrades, a move that could lead to impeachment proceedings.
Opposition parties had gone to the Constitutional Court to argue that
the speaker of parliament failed to enforce the appropriate processes to
censure Zuma over the scandal.
Zuma had failed to abide by recommendations made by the country's
anti-corruption watchdog in 2014 over refurbishments at his personal
home in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province that misused $15mn (€12mn) of
taxpayers' money.
The scandal came to a dramatic climax when the Constitutional Court last
year found the president guilty of violating his oath of office by
refusing to pay back the cash.
'We conclude that (National) Assembly did not hold the president to account, said Constitutional Court judge Chris Jafta.
'The failure by the National Assembly to make rules regulating removal
of the president ... constitutes a violation of the constitution, the
court said.
It ordered that the National Assembly 'must comply with the
constitution and make rules that could be used for the removal of the
president 'without delay.
Defeated in court and facing mounting public criticism, Zuma later
relented and paid $500,000, a sum set by the treasury following last
year's ruling.
In power since 2009, Zuma stepped down last week as president of the
ruling African National Congress (ANC) party after a 10-year term marked
by numerous damning court judgments against him.
Yesterday's ruling is expected to pile pressure on the beleaguered
leader to resign ahead of the end of his term as state president in
2019.
Zuma was succeeded by his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa in a tightly fought
contest in which his former wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma also ran.
Sydney Mufamadi, an ANC stalwart who has known Zuma for decades, said
that the president would not step aside because he had no 'sense of
shame and called on parliament to act following the judgment.
'This is going to be an acid test of the new leadership of the ANC and
parliament, said Mufamadi, who is now director of the School of
Leadership at the University of Johannesburg. 'Parliament has the
authority to remove him ... not to protect an errant president.
The ANC's deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte said that the party had
noted the ruling and would 'discuss its full implications when the
party's decision-making National Executive Committee meets on January
10.
One of the opposition parties that took the matter to court, Congress of
the People (COPE), said the ruling had left Zuma exposed and put the
ANC under pressure to act against him.
'He has reached a point at which he is like Saddam Hussain in a hole and
there is no other chamber to go except to come out. He's got to come
out now, said COPE leader Mosiuoa Lekota.
In a statement the National Assembly said it had 'already initiated a
process, as part of its overhaul of rules to put in place a procedure
for removing a sitting president.
Ralph Mathekga, a political analyst and author of the book When Zuma
Goes, said that the judgment would strengthen the position of those
seeking to remove Zuma.
'Zuma is on his way out, the only difference is how ANC members will
negotiate with him. It's going to take negotiations with Zuma to so that
he can leave office, Mathekga said.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance party has said it will seek to
have its parliamentary motion of impeachment against Zuma 're-tabled as
soon as possible.
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