House move to impeach Zuma falls short in vote
Print Edition
SOUTH African President Jacob Zuma survived an impeachment vote in parliament yesterday that was launched after the constitutional court ruled that he ignored an order to repay state funds spent on his private home.
Zuma had the support of the African National Congress, which controls almost two-thirds of the assembly. The president won with 233 lawmakers voting against the impeachment motion, while 143 voted in favor. Zuma did not attend the proceedings.
The debate was raucous at times with Zuma likened by the leader of the main opposition party to a “large and malignant tumor” on the ANC, which came to power in 1994 with the election of Nelson Mandela.
“When the highest court in the land ruled that the man occupying the highest office violated the constitution, it should have been the end of President Zuma,” Mmusi Maimane, leader of the Democratic Alliance, told the assembly.
“Corruption has infected the entire party like a cancer.”
Acknowledging that the ANC would use its majority to defeat the impeachment motion, Maimane said that “when ANC MPs defend President Zuma and his corrupt acts, they will show that they are complicit in the spread of the disease”.
Earlier, speaker Baleka Mbete temporarily suspended the session after opposition lawmakers complained that she could not preside over the session because she is a close ally of Zuma.
Zuma apologized after the Constitutional Court ruled that he failed to uphold the constitution in a scandal over millions of dollars in state spending on his private home.
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