Conflicted Zuma unable to fulfil powers – affidavit

In his founding affidavit lodged at the Constitutional Court, Rommel Roberts, secretary of the Quaker Peace Centre in Cape Town, has argued the application is necessary to curb the alleged continuation of state capture while President Jacob Zuma remains President. The papers were filed in an application by the Quaker Peace Centre, FW de Klerk Foundation and AfriForum, which all argue that the Constitution allows the Deputy President to set up a judicial commission of inquiry if the President is implicated in any acts of corruption, notes a Sunday Tribune report. Roberts argues a proper interpretation of section 90(1) of the Constitution is needed. His organisation contends the words ‘or otherwise unable to fulfil his duties of President’ cover ‘any situation involving the risk of a conflict between… official responsibilities and private interests’ of the President. ‘In such a situation, which is contemplated expressly by section 96(2)(a) of the Constitution, the Deputy President is constitutionally obliged by section 90(1)(a) of the Constitution to act as President’. According to these three parties, Zuma is implicated in the state capture in his official responsibilities and his private interests, arguing that he was therefore unable to fulfil his duties as President by appointing a commission of inquiry into state capture as a matter of urgency. ‘Given the serious risk of conflicted circumstances of the President, the Deputy President assumes the office of acting President and is thus constitutionally authorised and solely responsible for the appointment of a commission of inquiry into state capture. Constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos said the applicants were making a plausible argument but he was not sure whether the court would make a ruling that a judicial commission of inquiry must be made by the Deputy President due to the doctrine of separation of powers.