Zuma himself inspired EFF action

IT was President Jacob Zuma himself who gave Julius Malema’s EFF the idea to approach the Constitutional Court directly to give a ruling on the Nkandla scandal.

Malema revealed to the Sunday Times this week that the party’s decision was influenced by Zuma’s argument in the Marikana funding case, during which the president said decisions made by his office could only be challenged in the Constitutional Court.

“We thought we should go straight to the highest court — his own affidavit said so — but all the legal minds we went to initially said ‘no’. The senior counsel all said we were unlikely to succeed in gaining direct access to the court.”

The party had used National Assembly sittings to demand that Zuma pay back a portion of the money spent on non-security upgrades at his Nkandla home as directed by public protector Thuli Madonsela in her “Secure in Comfort” report.

A defiant Zuma asked Police Minister Nathi Nhleko to compile a report on Nkandla, which exonerated the president of any liability. However, during a tense exchange with Zuma in April last year, when the EFF leader asked his ANC rival when he planned to pay and failed to get an answer, Malema said: “Let’s meet in court.”

It was not easy finding a senior counsel who was convinced by the EFF’s argument until the party brass briefed Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, a junior advocate.

“He filed our papers. We retained him as the junior counsel for the case because we needed to have someone who was completely committed to our argument.

“The senior counsel were reluctant. We started by asking all black senior counsel. We were knocking on doors, but no one was willing to take our case. Wim Trengove SC, whom we had used in previous cases and whom we knew, took our case.”

Asked which felt better, graduation or the court victory, Malema said graduation.

“It feels good to inspire the younger generation and make education fashionable.”