Support for Zuma ahead of historic impeachment debate
Parliament’s 400 MPs are about to debate an historic motion to impeach President Jacob Zuma, following a damning Constitutional Court judgement that found he had failed to uphold and defend the Constitution.
While previous attempts by opposition parties to have Zuma removed from office have proposed that parliament set up a committee to consider impeachment, this motion is a first for democratic South Africa as it is a proposal for the national assembly to vote him out of office.
This requires support from 256 of the 400 MPs in the national assembly.
While the business of parliament continued this morning without a hint of the drama that is set to play itself out in the National Assembly at 2pm, opposition party leaders have met this morning to discuss the debate which is first on the agenda.
After an extended meeting of the ANC’s National Working Committee yesterday which ended at midnight last night, the ANC’s Secretary General Gwede Mantashe earlier addressed the party’s caucus of MPs ahead of the much-anticipated debate.
While there are divisions in the ANC caucus over the party’s decision to defend the president in what is arguably the most embarrassing moment for the party since it came to power, using its majority to stop an impeachment motion is likely to be far more simple than facing voters' questions on this matter on the campaign trail ahead of the municipal elections later this year.
Meanwhile, the KZN ANC Youth League says those who attack the president are attacking the ANC as a whole.
The KZN Youth League have thrown their weight behind Zuma, ahead of this afternoon's parliamentary debate on the impeachment motion against him.
Spokesperson Mkhuseli Sondzaba says as the youth league, they view Zuma's Friday night apology for the 'frustration and confusion' caused by the Nkandla saga as him taking responsibility for the state and government.
"President Jacob Zuma was chosen by the ANC branches to lead the ANC before he was even elected the president of the country. As the youth league of the ANC we still believe in him. So even in Parliament, we believe the ANC will come out on top," Sondzaba said.
The South African Communist Party has dismissed the 'posturing' motion, calling it a precipitate, reckless and ultimately futile distraction by the Democratic Alliance, from the challenges that the tripartite alliance must deal with.
The SACP says the Concourt judgement, as well as Zuma's and the ANC NEC's subsequent response are 'an important beginning, but only a beginning, in a necessary process of critical reflection, self-correction, and decisive action for renewal'.