While both the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Independent Democrats (ID) on Monday called for a commission of inquiry into the arms deal, Bantu Holomisa, the leader of the United Democratic Movement (UDM), wrote to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, to ask what the rules are for unseating a president.
He told her in an open letter that he has no intention of voting to unseat the president on the basis of inferences by a judge and without that president receiving a chance to answer the accusations.
Holomisa said that press reports have inferred imminent parliamentary action against the president of the country based on the comments that Mbete herself and other African National Congress leaders have made.
“If indeed such a possibility exists of Parliamentary action against the president,” he said, “we would like to know from the outset what the procedures will be. Please indicate, at your earliest convenience, the proposed Parliamentary rules and intended process that will be followed.”
The former military dictator of the Transkei said it seemed to him that if Parliament intends acting against the president, it might need to appoint a body to determine what the judge’s inferences of political interference in prosecutorial decisions mean, although the ANC has repeatedly rejected in Parliament the proposal of a judicial commission of inquiry into the arms deal.
He wondered whether the whole affair now constitutes a crisis. “Or is a constitutional crisis being forced where none actually exists?” he asked. “Can we plunge the whole country into a new crisis by removing the president whilst there is still no clarity about the guilt or innocence of Mr Zuma, who is being touted as the next president?
“What would it say of our country if we replaced a president in this manner? The judge did not make a ruling against the president as far as we know; indeed, the president or members of the executive were not respondents in the matter.” — I-Net Bridge