Attacks on Deputy President Jacob Zuma by opposition parties are ”malicious and wrong”, the African National Congress said on Tuesday, referring to statements made by parties since the passing of judgement in the Schabir Shaik trial.
Speaking in the National Assembly, ANC MP Molefe Sefularo warned members to ”resist the temptation to turn Parliament into a kangaroo court”.
On the judgement delivered in the Durban High Court last week in the trial of Zuma’s former financial adviser, he said ”the findings against the deputy president” were made without him being able to respond.
Zuma was absent at the 2pm start of Tuesday’s plenary, and according to his spokesperson, Lakela Kaunda, he ”had some work to do”.
He had only arrived in Cape Town at about 3.15pm from Pretoria.
Zuma will attend the question-time session in the National Assembly on Wednesday afternoon, his office said.
‘Unbecoming behaviour’
Sefularo told MPs ”the behaviour of the opposition in this House following the conviction of Mr Schabir Shaik has been unbecoming of parliamentarians”.
”Their attacks on the President [Thabo Mbeki] and office of the deputy president are malicious and wrong.
”The findings against the deputy president were made without him being given an opportunity to give his side of the story. We must resist the temptation to turn Parliament into a kangaroo court.”
Sefularo said that notwithstanding the fact Zuma’s name was ”repeatedly and prominently” used in the Shaik trial, there was ”no interference from the deputy president”.
Also, the fact that the ANC-led government ”allowed the due process to run unhindered” is unchallengeable proof of its commitment to clean government and the rule of law.
”The matter of Schabir Shaik is still before the court of law. It can only be regarded as concluded once Mr Shaik has exhausted all constitutionally guaranteed options available to him.”
These include appeals to the highest courts in the country.
”In this context, we call on all South Africans, including political parties, to demonstrate respect for the rule of law, the fundamental principles of justice and the values which underpin our constitutional order.”
This does not allow the pursuit of ”narrow party-political interests” to undermine the rights of an individual, including the right to a fair hearing through the due process of law, he said.
‘Political thuggery’
In a statement to the House, Democratic Alliance MP Sheila Camerer condemned reaction by the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) to the judgement in the Shaik trial as ”political thuggery”.
”In an extraordinary act of political thuggery, the ANC Youth League showed no respect for the rule of law, launching racist attacks on [presiding] Judge [Hillary] Squires as an ‘old apartheid Rhodesian minister’ and accusing him of ‘issuing a political verdict’ that was ‘wrong and baseless’.
”Likewise, the Young Communist League, which accused Squires of being a ‘cynical, mad person’. Ditto Cosatu, which dismissed the judgement as ‘nothing but a political trial in absentia’.”
She said the DA is appalled at the methods used by the ANC’s alliance partners, who continue to support Zuma ”no matter how much embarrassment he causes to the ANC and South Africa”.
More support for Zuma
Zuma is not a criminal and the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) will continue to support him, Sanco said on Tuesday.
”JZ [Jacob Zuma] has served the country with commitment and we believe that his astute character is still demanded in the face of a developing society,” said Sanco general secretary Linda Mngomezulu.
Mngomezulu said her organisation believes that prosecuting Zuma will not provide a solution, but will instead cause the continual loss of leaders owing to their being labelled corrupt.
”Most of the politicians in South Africa come from a humble beginning and their lives are most likely exposed to what is may be defined as corrupt relations or behaviour.
”The matter needs to be examined carefully [rather] than adopting an outright rejection of people we consider important to the struggles for economic emancipation of our people,” she said.
Zuma’s future should not be left in the hands of the ”questionable” judiciary.
”The country does not only need an independent judiciary, but independent political strategy and leadership that can lead us from the current trajectory.
”The political centre of the ANC, which includes the deputy president, should lead in clarifying his role in the future of the country, and JZ must receive the support he deserves without putting self-destructive conditions on his doorsteps.”
Mngomezulu said if the country is serious about stopping corruption, a mechanism has to be introduced through which every politician, director and manager is scrutinised before and during their terms of office.
”So far, there is nothing that says to us JZ is a criminal, and he will continue to receive the same kind of support he received prior to the Shaik’s trial,” she concluded. — Sapa, I-Net Bridge