Zuma has parly in stitches
2003-09-09 15:00
Cape Town - An unrepentant South African deputy
president Jacob Zuma emphatically told members of parliament in the National Council of Provinces on Tuesday that he has no intention of standing down as deputy president.
He was answering questions in the chamber from Lawrence Lever, a Democratic Alliance MP, who asked whether the allegations surrounding him over his
alleged involvement in the arms deal warranted his standing down.
After chuckling, Zuma said: "I am sure that the honourable member knows there is a principle that you are presumed innocent until found guilty. If you take what the director of public prosecutions said there was no case to
prosecute me. However, what he said was there was a prima facie case; this does not say there is anything wrong that I have done that warrants any conviction."
"There are steps that I have taken to deal with that issue... and it does not warrant any standing down of any kind."
National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka has declined to prosecute Zuma relating to an alleged bribe from a French company involved in South Africa's arms deal but said there was prima facie evidence of corruption
against the deputy president.
Democratic Alliance MP Celia-Sandra Botha asked the deputy president: "As
patron of the moral regeneration campaign ... are you leading by example?"
Chuckling again, Zuma said, to applause from the African National
Congress
benches: "I was leading by example when I came to the leadership ... and I am still leading by example."
Asked by New National Party MP Adriaan van Niekerk "if in the light of the
answers up to now, I would like to hear his opinion on how he regards the
contribution to the success of this country by political party like the DA which measures it opportunities and success on how bad it goes with the
country... what is bad for the country is good for the DA".
To renewed applause from the ruling party benches, Zuma said: "I don't think you could expect anything different from the DA... I don't think they have anything to offer... that is why they jump on anything that happens."
The deputy president will also face questions in the national assembly on Wednesday.