Jacob Zuma dodges another bullet and survives impeachment vote
Parliament in South Africa has yesterday voted NOT to impeach President Jacob Zuma, despite a court ruling against him.
The governing African National Congress (ANC) defeated the opposition-sponsored motion, saying Mr Zuma was not guilty of “serious misconduct”.
Last week, South Africa’s highest court said he had breached the constitution by failing to repay public money used to upgrade his private home.
The opposition said Mr Zuma was a “crooked” president, not fit to govern.
After a rowdy debate, with MPs heckling and shouting at each other, a vote was called in the lower house, the National Assembly.
The motion was backed by 143 MPs and opposed by 233. Mr Zuma was not present.
The ANC had denounced the impeachment proceedings as a publicity stunt.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) needed a two-thirds majority – 267 MPs out of 400 – to impeach Mr Zuma.
The party has 89 seats, and the combined opposition 151.
How the seats are divided in parliament:
ANC: 249
DA: 89
EFF: 25
Others: 37
Opposition total: 151
Needed for impeachment: 267
DA leader Mmusi Maimane said public anger towards Mr Zuma was palpable, but he did not expect the ANC to back the impeachment motion because corruption had affected the entire party “like a cancer”.
“The ANC has lost its way and there’s no way back,” Maimane said.
Deputy Justice Minister John Jeffery rejected the call to impeach Mr Zuma, saying the president was not guilty of “serious misconduct”.
Earlier, opposition MPs called for speaker Baleka Mbete to step down, after accusing her of taking sides.
Ms Mbete rejected their demand, after an adjournment to consult parliamentary officials, but then left her deputy to chair most of the debate.
Mr Zuma has been dogged by allegations of corruption since before he was elected president in 2009.
He was accused of taking bribes over an arms deal but he denied the allegation and the charges were controversially dropped just before he took office.
He later found himself at the centre of controversy over the use of $23m (£15m) of public money to upgrade his private home in the rural area of Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal province.
The EFF tried to have Mbete step aside for Tuesday’s debate on the grounds that she would be conflicted, with EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi telling her: “You are a constitutional illiterate.”
When there was a suggestion that the Mbete matter be put to the vote, EFF leader Julius Malema shouted that it was the ANC’s vote in favour of Zuma paying back back nothing that got them all where they were.
“Bloody voting cattle,” Malema bellowed across the floor.
Deputy Justice Minister and ANC MP John Jeffery said Zuma did not “seriously” violate the Constitution.
He said the protector’s powers had always been a grey area and claimed that even current Public Protector Thuli Madonsela was unsure of whether her powers were binding.
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa suggested that Parliament be dissolved.
After the vote, DA MP John Steenhuisen asked that the name of each MP who voted against the motion be recorded.
Five minutes later the whole of the opposition had left en masse, leaving ANC MPs to laud the party’s achievements such as a solar electricity plant, the 46% drop in road deaths during the Easter holidays and a local tyre manufacturing plant, all without the customary interjections and objections from the opposition.
