Zuma off the impeachment hook

The DA was cold-shouldered by opposition groups in Parliament yesterday when its motion to probe the impeachment of President Jacob Zuma predictably failed, notes Legalbrief. The DA backed the wrong horse – the Omar al-Bashir matter – which alienated the EFF, whose support the party needed to carry the motion. A BDlive report notes that had the combined opposition stood together it could have forced the creation of the committee to investigate impeachment proceedings against Zuma for flouting the Constitution and two court orders for allowing the Sudanese President to leave the country after the recent African Union summit. The raucous debate, characterised by numerous interruptions, concluded with 211 votes against the motion, 100 in favour of it and 17 abstentions. The EFF and the United Democratic Movement broke ranks with other opposition parties and did not support the motion. The EFF position was encapsulated by Godrich Gardee, who said he agreed that Zuma should be impeached but among the many reasons was not allowing al-Bashir to escape the country. He said among the reasons were the money spent at his home in Nkandla and the killing of miners at Marikana. A similar view was resented by the UDM’s Nqabayomzi Nkwanka, who is quoted by The Mercury as saying: ‘If this motion had been brought to Parliament for any other reason than President al-Bashir we would have supported it.’ He added that arresting a sitting president would have led to a declaration of war by Sudan. It would have alienated SA from the rest of the continent and implied the AU was not a legitimate body as it could not, like other regional organisations, decide to grant immunity from prosecution to a head of state attending a summit.

Full BDlive report

Full report in The Mercury (subscription needed)