Put mechanism in place to impeach Zuma, court tells South African parliament

A ruling by South Africa‘s top court has held that parliament must now set out rules for impeachment proceedings against President Jacob Zuma over a case of graft.

The court made the ruling during the hearing of a case brought by opposition groups who wanted parliament to be compelled to begin impeachment proceedings against Zuma.

Handing down the Constitutional Court ruling, Judge Chris Jafta said, “We conclude that the assembly did not hold the president to account.

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“The assembly must put in place a mechanism that could be used for the removal of the president from office.”

The court also stated that the parliament failed to comply with its duties in holding President Zuma accountable over a public funding case which relates to the president’s use of state funds to upgrade his private home.

The court also said it could not intervene on how parliament will determine the mechanism and that it had no power to order an impeachment against Zuma.

However, it remains unclear whether this will lead to any impeachment process against embattled Zuma who has survived close to a dozen of such processes.

 

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