#LiveVIPZA “Story Of The Week” is a new feature by the VIP campaign which offers a funny take on the biggest story(s) of South African politics each week. You’re welcome.
“Zuma playing games with Parliament”
The ANC and the Democratic Alliance are at each others throats again. This, in itself, is not news (both parties seem to be engaged in an eternal handbag fight). This time “Number One” drew the ire of the opposition party by supposedly using “delaying tactics” in his response to the Public Protector’s Nkandla report . This comes after the Presidency responded to Madonsela’s report with a press release saying that they’ll respond later (weird, right?). President Zuma has obliged to give a full response once he’s received the Special Investigation Unit’s report into his R250 million estate… which is also weird given that the SIU’s report was listed as complete on their website but has subsequently been changed to “ongoing” since the President’s response.
“The president has decided that he will give a full and proper consideration to all the matters before him and, upon receipt of the SIU report, will provide Parliament with a further report on the decisive executive interventions that he would consider to be appropriate,” the President’s statement read. As you can imagine, the DA was not impressed. DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko accused the President of undermining the Public Protector’s office and “playing games with Parliament”.
“This effectively means that an elected head of state is openly playing games with the Parliament which elected him; as well as the country’s public protector, who is constitutionally empowered to take remedial action against him,” Mazibuko said.
ANC and DA lock horns over SMS saga
The ANC locked horns with the Democratic Alliance at the South Gauteng court on Wednesday over an SMS sent by the DA that claims President Jacob Zuma stole taxpayers money to build his Nkandla house. “The Nkandla report shows how Zuma stole your money to build his house,” the SMS reads before encouraging people to “vote DA on the 7th of May to beat corruption”.
The ruling party is arguing that the DA violated the Electoral Act by suggesting President Zuma stole money to build his house while further asserting that the Act prohibited the DA from making such claims. “The assertation that he [President Jacob] stole is clearly false. The DA could not believe that [the report] came to that conclusion,” Advocate Gcina Malinda, for the ANC, argued.
The DA has shot back by saying that the SMS was fair comment and that any reasonable person could conclude from the Public Protector’s report that the President stole from the public.
“(There was) nothing untoward about what we said. R250 million of taxpayers’ money was wasted on Nkandla,” said DA spokesperson and candidate for Gauteng Premier, Mmusi Maimane.
Whichever way this pans out, one thing’s for sure: the DA and the ANC should just get married (can anyone say “coalition”?). The two already fight like a married couple. And besides; I think all of us would love to see more of this:
Follow me on Twitter: @RofhiwaManeta and tune in next week for more political news.
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