DA to exhaust all legal avenues to ensure Zuma accounts for breaking oath of office

Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane along with the leadership of the DA‚ vowed on Wednesday to start a process to exhaust all legal avenues to ensure that President Jacob Zuma accounts for breaking his oath of office.

Maimane received a warm welcome on Wednesday afternoon at the Baragwanath Taxi Rank in Soweto – his hometown – where he encouraged people and vendors to register to vote for the upcoming local government elections‚ as it is the last opportunity this weekend for South Africans to register to vote.

Addressing a crowd of no more than 200‚ Maimane said that despite Zuma apologising to the nation‚ the ruling party is beset on protecting corruption.

“Therefore as a party‚ it’s now time we place South Africa first. The ANC acts with impunity because they are not scared of voters. We fear the voters because we realise voters have the power. Ultimately‚ this is about bringing change to Joburg to ensure that it becomes the economic hub that it was destined to become‚” said Maimane.

He added: “The ANC has lost its way. It is time now that we take matters in our own hands and as chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said‚ ‘chop the ugly head of impunity off its stiffened neck’.”

Maimane‚ whose attempt to have Zuma impeached failed on Tuesday in Parliament‚ said if Zuma could break the constitution‚ “who is to say that he can’t break it come elections and other constitutional provisions. Therefore it is time to act as a society and bring change.”

Maimane echoed his words that the DA would be engaging all sectors of society to put a mass action on the table‚ but was unable to give a deadline as to when this would happen.

The DA will launch their election manifesto on April 23 in Johannesburg where they plan to march through the city.

Present on Wednesday were also DA’s Joburg mayoral candidate Herman Mashaba as well as Solly Msimang‚ the party’s mayoral candidate for Tshwane.

Speaking on the sidelines‚ Mashaba appealed to people of Johannesburg to use the constitutional framework to register to vote for change.

“I’m confident that we will get the outright majority of this country [to vote for the DA]. We are waiting for the people of Johannesburg to give us the mandate because when they do‚ we can assure you that five years down the line‚ Cape Town will be very jealous of our achievement‚” said Mashaba‚ in reference to the DA enjoying a lot of support and applauded for improving Cape Town’s service delivery under Patricia de Lille.

Msimang‚ as the mayoral candidate of Tshwane‚ said the DA had adopted a “very can-do positive strategy” though he opted not to share it.

“We want to have a preventative maintenance plan for the city. The ageing infrastructure in our city is a major concern and we need to make that we do start planning and start replacing this infrastructure‚” said Msimang.

Source: TMG Digital/TMG Local Government Team