Zille: Zuma case is different

2008-09-06 12:58

Cape Town - There was no parallel between the Erasmus Commission and the so-called "selective prosecution" of Jacob Zuma, DA leader Helen Zille said on Friday.

Writing in her weekly online newsletter, she said there were some who argued it was hypocritical of the DA to have opposed the commission but not the Zuma trial.

They drew parallels between the commission and what they believed was the selective prosecution of Zuma, as a form of power abuse by one African National Congress faction to discredit another.

"The key difference is that Zuma is before a court of law; the DA and the City [of Cape Town] were not," she said.

"The parallel would only have credence if a police investigation had failed to provide the basis of a credible charge against Zuma in court, only for President Mbeki to sidestep the criminal justice system and set up an illegal commission anyway, handpicking his own judge to chair it, in order to conduct a political witch-hunt to discredit Zuma.

"If this had happened, it would have been credible to talk about persecution. However it did not. Zuma is being properly prosecuted through the criminal justice system."

Earlier this week the high court upheld a DA challenge to the commission, ruling that the body had been illegally appointed, for political motives, by former Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool.

The commission was tasked to probe alleged irregularities in the City of Cape Town's investigation of renegade councillor Badih Chaaban.

Zille, who is also mayor of Cape Town, said on Friday that the judgment was a watershed ruling on the separation of powers and the prevention of power abuse by the ruling party.

"At a time when the ANC often seems to disregard the constitutional constraints on its power, the fact that the courts have acted decisively and emphatically is something from which we can all take heart."

- SAPA