Zuma misconduct charges stumped
2010-05-27 09:59
Cape Town - Technicalities are being used to trump the Democratic Alliance's attempts to hold President Jacob Zuma accountable for misconduct, DA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip said on Wednesday.
The rejection of an oral question submitted by the DA to Zuma regarding his failure to publicly account for breaching the Executive Ethics Code is an example of "technicalities" being used to undermine principle, he said.
The DA's question was an attempt to elicit information about the presidency's policy on personal responsibility, accountability and integrity.
The parliamentary questions office refused this submission on the grounds that it "reflects on the character of the president.
"Even if one agrees in principle that the DA's question constituted a threat to the president's character, a precedent exists to challenge the basis on which this question has been dismissed," Trollip said.
Former president Thabo Mbeki and Zuma, in his capacity as deputy president, were both called to answer numerous parliamentary questions related to their involvement in the controversial arms deal between 2003-2005.
In March 2003 and November 2004, former DA MP Raenette Taljaard asked then deputy president Zuma to respond to questions about meetings he had attended with Thomson CSF/Thales, the French electronics company implicated in the scandal.
In September 2005, Mbeki was asked by former DA member Eddie Trent about whether he attended a meeting with the same company in Paris.
"In these instances, Parliament's role of legislative oversight was defended and both President Zuma and his predecessor were compelled to provide answers.
"If the president respected his responsibilities as head of the executive, he would be prepared to put aside his party's political agenda in order to publicly explain his behaviour," Trollip said.
"However, the Zuma administration is driven not to serve the needs of the people who elected it, but by a desire to secure the power of the ANC at all costs."
- SAPA