PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA – MARCH 17: President Jacob Zuma during the official launch of the Invest South Africa One Stop Shop (InvestSA OSS) at the DTI campus on March 17, 2017 in Pretoria, South Africa. The initiative is part of the government’s drive to improve the business environment by lowering the cost of doing business as well as making the process easier. (Photo by Gallo Images / Alet Pretorius)
Civil society organisations drag Zuma back to ConCourt over cabinet reshuffle
The Helen Suzman Foundation and My Vote Counts are taking Zuma to the Constitutional Court over his axing of Pravin Gordhan, but they’re not stopping there.
PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA – MARCH 17: President Jacob Zuma during the official launch of the Invest South Africa One Stop Shop (InvestSA OSS) at the DTI campus on March 17, 2017 in Pretoria, South Africa. The initiative is part of the government’s drive to improve the business environment by lowering the cost of doing business as well as making the process easier. (Photo by Gallo Images / Alet Pretorius)
If el president thought his legal woes would end anytime soon, he’s in for a pretty nasty surprise.
No doubt emboldened by the High Court’s ruling, that Jacob Zuma must furnish the Democratic Alliance with the so-called ‘intelligence’ report on which he based the firing of former finance minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas; the Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) and My Vote Counts NPC (MVC) have pulled their resources and are taking the president to the ConCourt.
High Court Judge Bashier Vally last week ruled that Zuma had five days to supply the official opposition with the ‘intelligence report’, adding on Tuesday that the judiciary has the right to review decisions made by the president, to make sure they pass Constitutional muster.
Read: Despite what the ANC believes, Zuma’s decisions are subject to judicial oversight. Judge
HSF and MVC have requested that the court dismisses Zuma’s firing of Gordhan and Jonas and that the president is removed from office… a pretty tall order.
“The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) and My Vote Counts NPC (MVC) have approached the Constitutional Court for relief against the President and the National Assembly,” both organisations said in a statement.
The organisations’ application asks that the Constitutional Court:
- declare Gordhan and Jonas’s dismissal unconstitutional and invalid and to set it aside
- declare that President Jacob Zuma and the National Assembly violated their constitutional duties and,
- direct the Speaker of the National Assembly to institute an investigation into the president’s conduct, with a view to possible removal proceedings against Zuma, in terms of Section 89 of the constitution.
It’s a good thing Zuma believes that stress is a white man’s disease, else he’d have had a heart attack by now.
Related: I’m not stressed, stress is for ‘white people’ Zuma tells guests at his birthday
