South Africa’s top court orders Zuma-appointed chief prosecutor to leave post
JOHANNESBURG, (Reuters) - South Africa’s Constitutional Court yesterday ruled the appointment of the chief prosecutor, who was given his job after former president Jacob Zuma removed his predecessor, was invalid and ordered that he be replaced within 90 days.
Shaun Abrahams was appealing against an earlier High Court judgment that ruled that the removal of predecessor Mxolisi Nxasana was unlawful and that his own appointment be revoked.
Zuma faced a string of corruption allegations during his time in office, and Abrahams was accused by the opposition and rights groups of shielding the president from prosecution.
Zuma has denied wrongdoing and Abrahams denies protecting him from prosecution.
“Zuma’s removal of Nxasana was an abuse of power. Abrahams was a beneficiary of an abuse of power,” Judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga, who criticised Zuma for buying Nxasana out of office with a 17 million rand ($1 million) payout.
“The inference is inescapable that he was buying Mr Nxasana out of office.”
Zuma, whose nine years in power were marked by economic stagnation and credit rating downgrades, resigned as President in February, reluctantly heeding orders from the ruling African National Congress.
The judge ordered that South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa appoint a National Director of Public Prosecutions within 90 days.
Abrahams, who had kept his post pending the appeal, was not in court. He had no immediate comment.
“He is disappointed but respects the decision of the highest court in the land,” said the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku said. CARACAS, (Reuters) - Venezuela’s heavily subsidized domestic gasoline prices should rise to international levels to avoid billions of dollars in annual losses due to fuel smuggling, President Nicolas Maduro said in a televised address yesterday.
“Gasoline must be sold at an international price to stop smuggling to Colombia and the Caribbean,” Maduro said in a televised address.
Venezuela, like most oil producing countries, has for decades subsidized fuel as a benefit to consumers. But its fuel prices have remained nearly flat for years despite hyperinflation that the International Monetary Fund has projected would reach 1,000,000 percent this year.
That means that for the price of a cup of coffee, a driver can now fill the tank of a small SUV nearly 9,000 times. Recently, the average price of a coffee with milk was 2.2 million bolivars, or about 50 cents, local media has reported.