A fatal blow to Zuma - DA
2005-06-02 14:22
Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance joined other opposition parties on Thursday in calling for Deputy President Jacob Zuma's head after of Judge Hilary Squires' guilty verdict in the Schabir Shaik trial.
"Judge Hilary Squires' verdict in Durban today effectively means that deputy president Jacob Zuma - while not on trial himself - has been found guilty in absentia," DA justice spokesperson Sheila Camerer told journalists at a media briefing at parliament.
"Zuma's position is now fundamentally compromised and he has become an embarrassment, not only to President (Thabo) Mbeki, but also to the ANC and the country as a whole," she said.
In light of the verdict it was now clear Zuma and Shaik had a generally corrupt relationship and that Shaik solicited a bribe on Zuma's behalf.
In a charge of this nature it should not be forgotten that it took "two to tango".
"It is clear that Zuma accepted payments from Shaik in return for allowing him to use his political office to help Shaik secure business contracts. Such a relationship clearly implicates both parties in the relationship - the giver and the receiver.
"In light of the overwhelming evidence linking Zuma to the guilty verdict of Shaik, the NPA (National Prosecuting Authority) should reconsider the decision not to charge Zuma with... corruption," Camerer said.
DA Chief Whip Douglas Gibson said that apart from the legal decision itself, it should also be considered that Zuma had been proven to have lied on a number of different occasions.
Official statement
In an official statement in August 2003, Zuma stated: "I have said before, and I repeat, that: I have never attempted to solicit a bribe. I have never used my public office to advance the private business interest of any person. I have never discussed with Schabir or anyone else for that matter, the issue of protecting Thomson/Thales or any other company or individual from the investigation of the Joint Investigation Team into the Strategic Defence Procurement".
Gibson further claimed that Zuma had lied to parliament when he failed to declare received benefits from Schabir Shaik as a benefit in the Registrar of Members' Interests, when he told the Parliamentary Ethics Committee in 2003 that payments he received via Schabir Shaik were interest-bearing loans and therefore not a benefit, and when he, in response to a parliamentary question on March 13, 2003 said he had not met Thomson-CSF's Alain Thetard.
"In the light of the lies told by the deputy president, as well as in the context of the commitment given by President Mbeki last week 'to ensure that the functions of the executive structures of government are not undermined by corruption', we officially call on deputy president Zuma to resign now or for President Mbeki to remove him from office," Gibson said.
- SAPA