Court gives Zuma five days to explain why he fired Gordhan

The Democratic Alliance has won its application to the North Gauteng High Court to have President Jacob Zuma provide reasons for firing former finance minister Pravin Gordhan and his then deputy Mcebisi Jonas.

The party announced on Thursday that Judge Bashier Vally has given the president five days to provide reasons for the decision that he was highly criticised for.

Last month, the DA filed an urgent application with the North Gauteng High Court to request that the president’s decision to remove Gordhan and his deputy, Jonas, be set aside on the grounds that it was irrational, unlawful and invalid.

“The consequences of Zuma’s unexplained midnight reshuffle has been plain for all to see: South Africa’s long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating was downgraded to junk status by ratings agency, Standard & Poor’s, and the rand went into free fall,” said the party in a statement

It further said the decision was likely to cost more jobs and would have a calamitous impact on ordinary South Africans.

“At all times, the President should act in the best interests of South Africa. Yet President Zuma does not and has never acted in the best interest of our country.”

The president at the time was highly criticised for apparently using the so-called intelligence report to fire Gordhan, a report EFF leader Julius Malema said was compiled by the Guptas to try and discredit Gordhan.

The party said it was in possession of the report.

“The man who compiled the report was employed by the Guptas to work on cleaning up the image of the family and its companies. His stance was that he cannot attend to the family without fixing Zuma’s image, and that was how it all came about. He is responsible for the many fake news you see online in a desperate attempt to clean Zuma’s image,” Malema said at the time.

The EFF has since approached the Constitutional Court in Braamfontein in March to file an application to order speaker of parliament Baleka Mbete to institute impeachment or disciplinary proceedings against Zuma.

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