/ 17 August 2005

Opposition condemns call for Zuma reinstatement

It is hard to know whether to be appalled or amused by the Congress of South African Trade Unions’ (Cosatu) recent about-face on former deputy president Jacob Zuma, and the labour federation’s call for him to be reinstated, the Democratic Alliance said on Wednesday.

Cosatu’s central committee resolved at its meeting in Johannesburg earlier this week to call on President Thabo Mbeki to reinstate Zuma as deputy president of the country and to ensure the corruption charges against him are dropped.

It said if the case went ahead in spite of the federation’s call, Cosatu would demand a fair hearing and a full bench to hear the trial.

In a statement on Wednesday, DA justice spokesperson Sheila Camerer condemned Cosatu’s call on Mbeki to interfere in the judicial process, and stop Zuma’s impending trial, as ”unprincipled and irresponsible”.

”[This] calls for a firm response from the president, and ideally a reprimand,” she said.

It also challenges Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi to convey to his recalcitrant members the importance of the rule of law and the independence of South Africa’s judiciary.

”It is hard to know whether to be amused or appalled at Cosatu’s recent change of position. Only a few months ago the official line from Cosatu was that former deputy president Jacob Zuma should be given a chance to clear his name and that he is ‘innocent until proven guilty’.

”When it was announced that Jacob Zuma would be charged, Cosatu positively welcomed this development as an opportunity for the former deputy president to rebut the allegations levelled against him.

”Now it seems that the former deputy president and his Cosatu supporters have done a complete about-face on this issue.”

The fact that Cosatu believes Mbeki should be petitioned to interfere with the judicial process ”demonstrates that the organisation has absolutely no respect for the Constitution”.

”It is horrifying that 11 years into our democracy, with a model Constitution guaranteeing the separation of powers … decisions should be taken by the Cosatu leadership which demonstrates either failure to comprehend or complete disrespect for our constitutional system,” Camerer said.

Government waits for Cosatu submission

Meanwhile, the government will await a formal submission from Cosatu on decisions taken at its central committee meeting about Zuma, government communications head Joel Netshitenzhe said on Wednesday.

Briefing the media after the Cabinet’s fortnightly meeting, he said the Cabinet has noted media reports relating to Zuma ”arising from the central committee of Cosatu”.

”Government will await any formal submission on these matters.

”It will be guided in its response by the supreme law of our land, the Constitution, which provides, among others, for separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary, and directs the president to ‘uphold, defend, and respect the Constitution’.

”We hope that no one is calling on the president to break the law, trash the Constitution and undermine our young democracy, because that is something the president will never do,” Netshitenzhe said.

He repeated that the composition of the executive is the prerogative of Mbeki, who has ”pronounced extensively on this matter in Parliament a few weeks ago”.

Zuma was fired by Mbeki in June after his friend and financial adviser Schabir Shaik was found guilty on two charges of corruption and one of fraud involving financial dealings with Zuma.

In his judgment, Judge Hillary Squires, who tried Shaik, found there was a ”generally corrupt” relationship between Zuma and Shaik, although Zuma was not on trial.

After Shaik’s trial, Zuma was also charged with corruption.

Zuma goes on trial in the Durban High Court in October. — Sapa