Con court rules in favour of Nkandla SMS
JOBURG - The African National Congress (ANC) has noted the ruling of the Constitutional Court into the matter relating to the SMS sent out by the Democratic Alliance (DA) last year claiming President Jacob Zuma stole R246 million to build his home.
The SMS stated: ‘The Nkandla report shows how Zuma stole your money to build his R246m home. Vote DA on 7 May to beat corruption. Together for change.’
The court set aside the Electoral Court’s ruling in favour of the African national Congress saying that the DA did act within its rights when it sent out the SMS.
However, the ANC’s national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said, “Today`s ruling reaffirms our view that the DA sent out a false statement in order to influence the outcome of an election last year. The Constitutional Court has agreed with the ANC that the SMS sent by the DA was an opinion of the DA and not a fact. It is not true that President Zuma stole taxpayers` money to build his homestead in Nkandla – a point made by the successive reports of competent authorities including the public protector.”
Kodwa added that it was regrettable that in spite of the ruling which supported the ANC’s view, the DA continued to play politics. “As we accept the ruling by the Constitutional Court, the ANC continues to believe that the statement made by the DA was an outright attack on our democracy as it allowed the party to send out misleading information disguised as fair comment in order to influence the outcome of an election.”
He said despite this desperate offensive by the DA, ANC supporters dismissed the DA’s attempts to discredit the party and its leadership. “They [ANC supporters] remain loyal to the organisation understanding the important work being done by various state agencies to deal with the real problem of Nkandla, which is the inflation of prices by contractors and individuals tasked with delivering on the project.”
