DA: Zuma Is 'Simply Playing For Time, Delaying The Inevitable'

The Democratic Alliance will oppose President Zuma's decision to challenge a court ruling rejecting his application to set aside the 'State of Capture' report.
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President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma gestures as he speaks during the Energy Indaba conference in Midrand, South Africa, December 7, 2017.
Siphiwe Sibeko / Reuters

The Democratic Alliance says it will oppose President Jacob Zuma's decision to appeal of the judgment of the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, which rejected his application to review and set aside Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's remedial action in her State of Capture report.

"We cannot allow this abuse of court processes to become a feature of the way the president gets away with things," James Selfe, the DA's federal council chair said on Friday.

"We will once more seek a punitive, personal costs order against Mr Zuma."

He said state capture had bled South Africa dry.

"It is one of the worst chapters in our history. It institutionalised corruption and it besmirched the reputation of the ANC."

Selfe said there was only one way that newly-elected ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa could assert his authority and end the farce, and that was by recalling Zuma from the position of South African president.

Zuma lodged his appeal against the fell Bench state capture judgment on Friday.

He submitted that the court had erred in law when it ruled that he was ill-advised and reckless when he launched the application to set aside Madonsela's remedial actions in her State of Capture report.

The DA accused Zuma of "simply playing for time, delaying the inevitable, and wasting the time of the courts".

"He clearly wants to delay the appointment of the commission for as long as possible, so that witnesses can forget and evidence can be destroyed.

"It is instructive that his decision to appeal appears to be at variance with a decision of his own conference, not even a week ago, to the effect that the commission should be appointed as soon as possible," said Selfe.

He said Ramaphosa, as the new president of the ANC, ought to reign Zuma in and described Zuma as being "reckless".

"He is undermining the reputation of the Presidency and provoking a showdown with the courts. And he is doing it on taxpayers' money," he said.

Earlier, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said Zuma should step down and allow Ramaphosa to appoint the judge to conduct the inquiry into state capture.

-- News24