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PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA flouted the constitution in using public funds to upgrade his private residence and must repay the money, South Africa’s top court ruled today, sparking calls for his impeachment.
The Constitutional Court delivered a damning verdict on Zuma’s conduct after a swimming pool, chicken run, cattle enclosure and amphitheatre were built at his rural homestead as so-called “security” measures.
The president had refused an ombudswoman’s orders to repay money spent on the upgrades, which became a symbol of alleged corruption and greed within the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party.
Zuma “failed to uphold, defend and respect the constitution as the supreme law of the land,” Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said in a strongly-worded judgement.
The rebuke came as Zuma fights back against separate allegations that a wealthy Indian family influenced ministerial appointments in a scandal that has rocked his government.
Zuma has also been battered by the country’s sharply declining economy.
But he retains a strong grip on parliament through his dominant leadership of the ANC, and any impeachment bid looks unlikely to succeed.
‘Benefited unduly’
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, the country’s ombudswoman, ruled in 2014 that Zuma had “benefited unduly” from the work on the Nkandla property in KwaZulu-Natal province, and that he should re-fund some of the money.
The president reacted by ordering two government investigations that cleared his name — including a report by the police minister which concluded that the swimming pool was a fire-fighting precaution.
Mogoeng said today that Zuma “must personally pay the amount determined by the national treasury.”
The work was valued in 2014 at 216 million rand (then €21 million).
“President Jacob Zuma’s action amounts to a serious violation of the Constitution, and constitutes grounds for impeachment,” the Democratic Alliance (DA), South Africa’s main opposition party, said.
It added that it had officially begun the process to impeach Zuma.
Zuma weakened?
But the ANC controls parliament after winning elections in 2014, and Zuma easily survived a no-confidence vote earlier this month.
A successful vote to impeach Zuma would require a two-thirds majority in the assembly.
The DA brought the case to court along with the far left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party.
“We call on the president to step down with immediate effect,” EFF leader Julius Malema said. “We would call upon the ANC to do the right thing and recall the president.”
Opposition parties hope today’s ruling will bring gains in local elections this year as frustration grows over 25% unemployment and grinding poverty for many black people more than 20 years after the end of apartheid.
Zuma has recently endured renewed corruption allegations after deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas said he was offered the top job in the treasury by the Guptas, an Indian business family said to hold huge sway over the president.
His standing was badly hit last year after he sacked two finance ministers within days, triggering a collapse in the rand and a major withdrawal of foreign investors.
“He enjoys less power inside the ANC than he did before firing the finance ministers in December,” Aubrey Matshiqi, analyst at the Helen Suzman Foundation, told AFP.
But the erosion in power he has suffered is not sufficient and does not constitute a direct threat yet to his position.
Zuma, 73, will have completed two terms in 2019 and is not eligible to run for president again, but the ANC could replace him ahead of the vote.
The ANC, which led the fight against white-minority rule and has ruled since Nelson Mandela became president in 1994, said it accepted the court judgement, while the presidency made no immediate response.
Yeah it simply must be a post colonial thing…but then i think of ceaucescu….id say its more like the intoxication of absolute power..
I wonder if he’s mates with Sepp Blatter? Two disillusioned idiots.
*Deluded
The thing is, South Africa was and still is a democratic nation so Zuma should theoretically have no absolute power. It looks like South Africa is starting to go down the route of Putin’s Russia or Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, slowly descending towards absolute rule and economic stagnation.
Mugabe, Putin and co are just a little bit more open about absolute rule than supposed more democratic countries such as the USA.
The thing is Stan, the US actively takes steps to try and curtail the concentration of power. It doesn’t always work but they at least try. Obama has been absolutely crippled by a Republican majority in the Senate, something you’d only see here in Europe with a minority government. You’ve also got the fact that the US brought in legislation preventing more than 2 terms as president due to the sheer popularity of Roosevelt and the fact that he could have used this to extend his personal power if he wished (it wasn’t his personality, but it’s not to say that another popular president wouldn’t have).
Meanwhile you’ve got people like Mugabe or Putin who have total control over both media and parliament rewriting constitutions to cement their power with legislation.
“The ‘nation’ that Mandela has bequeathed is as unreconstructed today as it was before the end of apartheid, disaggregated into its two main social forces – the working class on the one side and the capitalist class on the other. SA is reputed to be the most unequal society on Earth. As many as 8 million are unemployed, 12 million go to bed hungry, millions are excluded from decent education, health and housing.
The ruling ANC elite is exhibiting the same characteristics as the one which it replaced – corrupt, inept and with an insatiable appetite for self-enrichment and power. Even worse, whilst condemning apartheid order policies as a crime against humanity, the representatives of the new elite are displaying a growing infatuation with similar methods of rule as their predecessors, taking shelter behind repressive legislation such as the Secrecy Act, the National Key Points Act and the Traditional Courts Bill to secure their grip on power, and to keep the nation in the same sort of dark secrecy and repression as the apartheid regime.
Instead of the fulfilment of the dreams of equality and prosperity the masses had been led to believe lay in store for them under democracy, its benefits have accrued to only a tiny minority. Far from the promised ‘Rainbow Nation’ of equals, SA today resembles, as ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe has himself admitted, ‘an Irish Coffee’ – black at the bottom, on top a thin layer of white cream sprinkled with chocolate”
http://socialistparty.ie/2013/12/after-nelson-mandela-continue-the-struggle-for-freedom-a-equality/
Do tell us how the great anti-capitalist movements of the early half of the 20th century benefited Eastern Europe and Asia in terms of human rights and economic development Wally.
Do tell us Jason how human rights and economic development is being served by the aggressive U.S imperial expansion in the second half of the 20th century?
“The disquieting reality of the world we live in is that American efforts to destroy democracy, even as it pretends to champion it, have left the world less peaceful, less just and less hopeful……………..
To place the coup in Ukraine in historical context, this is at least the 80th time the United States has organized a coup or a failed coup in a foreign country since 1953……………….
Noam Chomsky calls William Blum’s classic, Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II, “Far and away the best book on the topic.” If you’re looking for historical context for what you are reading or watching on TV about the coup in Ukraine, Killing Hope will provide it. The title has never been more apt as we watch the hopes of people from all regions of Ukraine being sacrificed on the same altar as those of people in Iran (1953); Guatemala(1954); Thailand (1957); Laos (1958-60); the Congo (1960); Turkey (1960, 1971 & 1980); Ecuador (1961 & 1963); South Vietnam (1963); Brazil (1964); the Dominican Republic (1963); Argentina (1963); Honduras (1963 & 2009); Iraq (1963 & 2003); Bolivia (1964, 1971 & 1980); Indonesia (1965); Ghana (1966); Greece (1967); Panama (1968 & 1989); Cambodia (1970); Chile (1973); Bangladesh (1975); Pakistan (1977); Grenada (1983); Mauritania (1984); Guinea (1984); Burkina Faso (1987); Paraguay (1989); Haiti (1991 & 2004); Russia (1993); Uganda (1996);and Libya (2011). This list does not include a roughly equal number of failed coups, nor coups in Africa and elsewhere in which a U.S. role is suspected but unproven.”
http://www.alternet.org/world/americas-coup-machine-destroying-democracy-1953
Is it really that much to ask for you to answer a simple question without going on a completely unrelated rant?
Picked two random coups from Walls list, examples of America’s imperialism. Pakistan 1977, supported a coup to remove an elected official following riots over vote fraud allegation. Bangladesh 1975, supported coup to oust the man who created a one party state and silenced free press… Wally, I’m not sure why you’ve listed a lot of the above, I can’t tell if you expect people not to investigate what you waffle or if you just don’t read the things you copy + paste into comments… either way, thanks for making me more informed, incidentally.
Ciaran,
It’s startling how the U.S. defence of “democracy” and a “free” press always aligns conveniently with their strategic interests, isn’t it?
And how for example they have no problem with a complete absence of both in say Saudi Arabia, a close ally of theirs.
P.S The clue is in the quotation marks and the link.
straight out of the f/f book of tricks
He’s actually quite good buddies with ole Bobby in Zimbabwe. Not to forget his chums, the Chinese.
@Debi Nikita……. And billionaire Hamas terrorist leader Khaled Mashaal living -in -luxury in Doha and West Bank builder of a palace for his retirement Pre. Abbas of the PA.
Democracy in Africa is a fallacy, just like time keeping.
After all the years of corruption and apartheid. The people who gave their lives for a fairer, equal SA. They get this. Seems nowadays corruption is a must have character trait for a aspiring politician.
The ordinary South Africans are still being down-trodden, only this time by the people who “saved” them from apartheid.
I agree, apartheid may be gone but in its place another form of separation has come to dominate, that of the separation of extreme wealth and extreme poverty.
I blame the whites……….. blah blah blah
He makes Charlie haughty seem modest !
Ah hold on now……
Pure greed. Surely he must have made plenty of money with that dance fitness thing he invented.
A police officer determining that a swimming pool is a fire fighting defence?
All were missing is a pilot to tell a life guard that the oven is for security.
Ireland would benefit Massively if we granted citizenship to South Africans who could claim Irish lineage back to the 1700s.
There is no future for them in the country that their ancestors built and is now being destroyed by another corrupt racist regime.
Emma…black africans cant be racist…only xenophobic.
Every race can be racist, to claim otherwise is itself racism.
Problem is the ANC are in power since 1991 they win every election Need a different party in power.
what do you expect given the type of person he is!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jason…i was trying to be a smidgin sarcastic…thinking of the racist murders/attacks on non-native south africans IN south africa a few years ago over jobs…at the time the main news channels referred to the violence as “xenophobic”….the victims were from uganda,namibia,somalia etc. and it was clearly racist AND xenophobic.
Not quite correct.
One thing is for certain – the SA are never getting that money back, no matter what the court ruling says.
That man is a pig and a greedy ignorant one that that. He famously claimed that taking a shower after unprotected sex minimised the risk of contacting AIDS!
Yes but how can the liberals blame this on apartheid?
They’ll find a way
The Fianna Fail South Africa chapter .
It’s quite simple really. This guy along with all ANC politicians are not afraid of the law or the judiciary. Their only fear is the electorate…..who will vote them in again and again and again.
Charlie Haughey could have taught him a thing or two. Plenty of home grown politions doing the same here.
Don’t think to be fair any of our politicians are in the league of African dictators like Zuma or Mugabe
Definitely not, but at the same time it does serve as a pretty stark warning. We do, after all, have political parties with a long history of public support despite multiple controversies and they do control important appointments in both the judiciary and police force when in power.
Such corruption would be possible here and arguably has happened in the past (DoB for example).
I’ve heard it said that accounting for inflation charlie benefited to the tune of 83 million euros. His son is also mysteriously wealthy but can anyone tell us how that is. Anyone in no matter what job should not steal from their employer no matter how big or small the item. If I worked in tescos and took a packet of paperclips I’d be sacked. But all the time we hear of td’s using stamps and inks and dubious claims using taxpayers money to fatten their own personal bank accounts or in the case of Bertie his girlfriends.
The solution is to make the GOAL collection boxes bigger.
GOAL have nothing to do with South Africa.
Neal i was just being sarcastic i remember going to school in 1960s where the Christian Brothers had a collecrion box to help the Black Babies (their logo) not mine and 55 years later we are still asked to help those unfortunates. We will continue to do so but the fears as to where the money is going is highlighted in this article. That and the very high salaries the heads of some of the charities are paid.
He’s like bertie ahern so
The sum of Nelson Mandela’s actual legacy is a fraction of his reputation. And always was, his ANC and his wife’s Football Club presaged SA’s future.
Simply put…. he should be sacked and made repay the money and no pension! And that goes for all politicians everywhere! I think they would listen then
Jailed more like.
That could also work….. however thèse are not the whingers
Power……..Corrupts
Why can’t I comment on this article? http://jrnl.ie/2690395
Because you don’t need to.
You could previously. It seems the Journal deleted all the comments and removed the option to contribute… without informing anyone who spent their time interacting. Nice.
And just how much of your valuable time did this waste? Ten seconds?
Mayor Joe Quimby and his underground swimming pool comes to mind
South Africa is his personal Fiefdom
Only a matter of time before SA ends up like its neighbour Zimbabwe. Africa will never break free of corruption. ..very sad
Nice man , very good to his wives I believe
Hang on, he needed the swimming pool for the cattle!
He is like the average politician in ireland
The truth is SA would probably be better off if London was still running things (Zimbabwe certainly would). The same goes for most of Africa.
The Fr. Ted of South Africa, corrupt to the core…
I wonder does he bellyflop in his pool?
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