DA moves to impeach Zuma
THE Democratic Alliance has invoked the impeachment provisions in the Constitution as part of renewed attempts to get President Jacob Zuma removed from office.
CAPE TOWN — The Democratic Alliance (DA) invoked the impeachment provisions in the Constitution yesterday as part of renewed attempts to get President Jacob Zuma removed from office.
In the unprecedented notice of motion, presented from the floor of the National Assembly, the DA charged that Mr Zuma and his Cabinet had offended the Constitution and the rule of law when they facilitated the escape of Sudanese President Omar alBashir from SA in June. Mr Bashir was in the country to attend an African Union summit.
The move by the DA was the first time in the democratic era that impeachment proceedings have been invoked against the country’s president. However, the African National Congress (ANC) majority in the National Assembly is certain to defeat the motion when it comes before the House. The DA hopes this will happen on August 18.
The DA argued that the facilitation of Mr Bashir’s escape was a direct violation of Mr Zuma’s oath of office to “obey, observe, uphold and maintain the Constitution and all other laws of the republic”, and was a further violation of two court orders that Mr Bashir not be allowed to leave SA.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane, introducing the motion, said the party believed in the supremacy of the Constitution and respect for the rule of law as the bedrock of “our democratic state”. These principles had been “directly contravened” by the executive, under the leadership of Mr Zuma, when they facilitated Mr Bashir’s escape.
The DA was moving to have the motion debated in the House, “whereupon a vote by a third of the House will be required to establish an ad hoc committee to investigate the impeachment charge”.
Mr Maimane argued that Mr Bashir was wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), under two warrants, issued in 2009 and 2010, for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, and that as a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the ICC, the government had a legal obligation under international and domestic law to arrest Mr Bashir.
ANC chief whip Stone Sizani said the motion was a publicity stunt not worthy of serious consideration. “Section 89 of the Constitution states ... that the president may only be removed from office for a serious violation of the Constitution or the law. No court of law has ever found the president guilty of violation of the law or the Constitution. In the absence of any constitutional or legal basis, Mmusi Maimane’s motion amounts to political posturing and is not worth the paper it is written on.”
The ANC expressed “categorical support” for the government’s decision to appeal against the High Court decision on Mr Bashir. All heads of state and delegates at the summit had been “granted diplomatic immunity by the government in line with international standards and practices”, he said.