Stop abusing me, president tells National Assembly
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma cried foul over the conduct of MPs in the National Assembly yesterday, insisting they were abusing him, and asked Speaker Baleka Mbete to do something about it.
“Each time when I come here I am abused by members of your Parliament. Instead of answering questions, I sit here being called a criminal, a thief,” a clearly irritated Zuma said at the end of his quarterly question-and-answer session, in which he again came under fire from opposition parties, with the EFF staging a walkout after objecting to being addressed by a “criminal”.
“Your House must do something. If this House is not interested in me answering questions, then say so, then don’t call me.”
Since being re-elected as president in 2014, Zuma has consistently seen his question-and-answer sessions interrupted by the EFF and other opposition parties, which insist the president is being increasingly compromised by his relationship with the Gupta family who have allegedly benefited from multibillion-rand state contracts.
The EFF called on Mbete to take disciplinary action against the president yesterday for violating the constitution when he failed to heed the directive of public protector Thuli Madonsela to pay back a portion of the money used to upgrade his Nkandla residence.
On Monday, both the Presidency and Treasury confirmed Zuma had reimbursed taxpayers to the tune of R7.8 million.
Zuma defended SAA chairwoman Dudu Myeni’s track record yesterday by saying that the carrier’s woes predated her arrival and many had tried but failed to resolve them.
“Firstly, SAA has been in difficulties for a long time,” Zuma told the National Assembly in a session dominated by questions from the opposition on the economy.
“We have been trying in many ways and there have been different CEOs.
“I don’t see any difference from what she has done and what other chairs have done,” he said, after noting that the SAA board had been working together with National Treasury to turn around the airline.
When the DA pointed out that Myeni’s name was not put forward for membership of the new board announced this month, Zuma replied that he was not present at the cabinet meeting that appointed the board.
“I was not even there … So I did not even argue in the cabinet,” he said.
Last week Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in the National Assembly that the board was a product of compromises in the cabinet.
Pressed for his view of Myeni, Gordhan responded that the board worked as a collective.
Zuma fumbled for an answer to DA leader Mmusi Maimane’s question as to why there was a need to place him at the head of the new co-ordinating council on state-owned entities, when there was already an inter-ministerial committee on state-owned enterprises, headed by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.
He said the inter-ministerial committee would remain responsible for trying to stabilise parastatals, but the new council, which the cabinet resolved last month to create, was aimed at “assisting to ensure improved oversight and co-ordination of state-owned enterprises”. The council was part of a “comprehensive remodel” of the management of parastatals, Zuma added.
However, at this stage, there was no finality over its mandate.
The DA continued to try to corner Zuma on the economy, and MP Geordin Hill-Lewis drew blood when he reminded Zuma that Operation Phakisa was an integral part of the government’s nine-point plan on the economy.
He asked how Zuma could claim that the plan was working when the overhaul of Durban’s docks had been delayed by seven years and completion of the project was now only envisioned in 2025.
“I might not have the details of the reasons why it has been pushed back a bit,” the president conceded.
“There must be very good reasons.”