ZUMA HITS BACK IN PARLIAMENT

QUESTION time for President Jacob Zuma in the National Assembly yesterday continued to be plagued by high drama after it was delayed by more than an hour as MPs squabbled over whether he should answer questions on the Nkandla scandal.

Opposition parties, led by the EFF and the DA, demanded that Zuma should start the session by answering questions stemming from when he was interrupted in August last year and tell the House when was he going to pay back the money.

But National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete would have none of that, as she consistently insisted that the Nkandla matter would not be addressed by Zuma as it was not on the list of six questions that he was specifically scheduled to respond to.

Mbete said the question also expired at the end of last year in terms of the rules of the House when parliament went for the Christmas recess.

But, when Zuma was pressed on Nkandla by EFF MP Natasha Louw and EFF leader Julius Malema, Zuma said the question, which has been a source of tensions in the legislature, was simply premature.

Louw asked if the president had “targeted his machine to pay back the money ”.

Zuma said the question should not be entertained until Police Minister Nathi Nhleko and the National Treasury have determined how much he should pay back as recommended by the office of the public protector.

Nhleko said he ’ ll announce his determination at the end of this month.

“Never have I thought when will I pay back the money …. That determination has not been done, why do you say pay back the money. You don ’ t even know how much, you don ’ t even know whether the final answer will say if I should pay back the money,” said Zuma amid loud cheers and clapping from the ANC side of the chamber.

“The question itself was premature. I gave the answer on that day [August 21], you didn ’ t like the answer and you said you ’ ll not leave this parliament.”

A confident but at times emotional Zuma, who at one point ignored Mbete ’ s order for him to stop speaking while EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi interjected him, also strongly denied that he was deliberately dodging questions from MPs.

Zuma said he had never ignored dates set aside for him to answer questions in parliament, including from after when he was interrupted on August 21 last year.

Zuma told MPs it was up to parliament to call him to the House to take questions.

Turning to Malema ’ s question on whether he was deliberately weakening crime-fighting institutions such as the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority to prevent them from reinstating corruption charges against him that were dropped in April 2009, Zuma said the claim was baseless.

“The perceptions are unfounded and baseless … I ’ ve never interfered with any institution and I will never do so. And secondly, I have no case against me. The NPA dropped the case not influenced by me [but] on its own accord,” the president said.

Never have I thought when will I pay back the money