Publications
Cape Town - Not only does the Democratic Alliance want to lay criminal charges against President Jacob Zuma after the weekend's e-mail leaks which shed light on the Guptas' influence on the state, it also wants Parliament to establish an ad hoc committee to deal with state capture.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane said Parliament must do its job to hold the executive accountable through the committee, but it cannot stop there. Therefore he would personally lay charges relating to corruption with the police.
"We are also investigating if the crime of treason has been committed," added James Selfe, DA federal executive chairperson.
Maimane said: "We believe there is grand corruption by both the corruptors and corrupted."
Maimane said Zuma is "without a doubt the head of a criminal organisation and the African National Congress' failure to recall him at the past weekend's meeting of its national executive committee means that state capture is an ANC project.
"When you call it state capture, people get confused. It is grand corruption and thievery."
Allegations
Maimane said the state capture allegations that emerged over the weekend show the extent of the rot.
He said the allegations of Gupta capture against ministers Des van Rooyen, Mosebenzi Zwane, Malusi Gigaba, Lynne Brown and Faith Muthambi, and the executive as a whole, demand a full investigation.
Maimane has already written to Speaker Baleka Mbete to request the ad hoc committee to probe the allegations against the ministers, Zuma and the Guptas. The powers of the proposed committee will include the ability to summon any person to give evidence, including Zuma.
Maimane said Zuma must be accountable and he should come to the committee to clarify his relationship with the Guptas. The same goes for the ministers implicated.
The DA also won't give up if Mbete doesn't allow them to bring the motion to establish the committee.
"If Baleka wants to violate the Constitution again, we will take her to court," Maimane said.
He and Selfe are, however, satisfied that such an ad hoc committee would do a proper job, given recent events in Parliament where some ANC MPs seemingly acquired a taste to hold the executive accountable.
Maimane said he would like to co-operate with the governing party.
"Now is not the time to grandstand. It is a time to ask: 'Are we going to allow our state to be sold off?'"
Credibility
He hopes the committee will function in a bipartisan fashion.
Selfe, who served with Maimane on the ad hoc committees on Nkandla, said some of the ANC MPs who served on those committees were angry that they were pushed in to defend Zuma after being fed a pack of lies, hurting their own credibility.
"I am confident we will find a different attitude at the ad hoc committees on Nkandla," said Selfe.
"We are encouraged by what is happening in committees. It should be happening all the time," said Maimane.
He will most likely lay his criminal charges on Tuesday.
On the pending vote of no confidence in Zuma, Maimane said the ANC MPs are faced with a fundamental choice: Either Zuma or South Africa.
"You can't have both."
