DA in court bid to have ministers fired

The DA is piling pressure on President Cyril Ramaphosa to fire embattled ministers Malusi Gigaba and Bathabile Dlamini‚ saying that keeping them in the cabinet is irrational and legally indefensible.

The DA also wants them to pay legal costs from their own pockets while fighting cases brought against them and in trying to clear their names.

The courts have found both have lied under oath.

On Monday, DA leader Mmusi Maimane said the North Gauteng High Court had set March 11 2019 aside as the date to hear the DA’s case that it was irrational for Ramaphosa to reappoint and retain the two ministers in his cabinet.

“As the DA, we really firmly believe if South Africa is to usher in a new dawn or a change‚ we need to ensure that we begin to clean out not only the Jacob Zuma-era but members of the ANC who simply have flouted the law‚” he said.

“Anyone who serves in high office ought to be above reproach and a servant of the people.”

He said the unity of the ANC could not be at the expense of delivery to the people.

He argued that while Ramaphosa exercised executive powers in terms of the constitution when he appointed ministers to the cabinet‚ it was vital to underscore that appointments ought to be rational and legally defensible.

Maimane said his party believed the reappointment of the ministers was irrational and they want the court to declare Ramaphosa’s decision to retain them as unlawful and unconstitutional.

The DA is also seeking an order reviewing the decisions to reappoint them and setting it aside.

“It is irrational to appoint manifestly unsuitable persons to the cabinet.

“It is equally irrational to retain such persons, especially when the Constitutional Court and the North Gauteng High Court have made the pronouncements that they have.” – TimesLive