UDF veterans using their networks to ensure Zuma held to account

17 August 2017 - 16:57

By Penwell Dlamini

In a statement released by the veterans of the UDF‚ the group said it had been mobilising recently in response to the serious political and economic crisis facing the country.

The UDF was launched on August 20 1983. It brought together over 400 organisations committed to the ideal of a united‚ non-racial‚ non-sexist‚ equitable and democratic South Africa.

It was‚ however‚ dissolved on August 20 1991‚ following the unbanning of the African National Congress and other liberation movements.

Perhaps the greatest legacy of the UDF to the people of South Africa is that it promoted the notion of participatory democracy‚ the veterans said.

“The newly elected government was initially mindful of this principle but this was soon eroded leaving us with a leadership which‚ over time‚ has become less and less accountable to the citizens of the country‚” they said.

The activists have called on the National Prosecuting Authority to do the following:

withdraw its appeal and prosecute Jacob Zuma;
prosecute all ministers‚ officials‚ board members and civilians who received or paid bribes‚ submitted inflated tenders‚ received or awarded tenders without due process; and
institute asset forfeiture proceedings against all those who benefited financially in any manner from the above illegal activities.

Next month‚ the Supreme Court of Appeal will hear the NPA’s appeal against an order to reinstate charges against Jacob Zuma on 783 counts of corruption.

Now the veterans are working alongside #UniteBehind to strengthen grassroots networks aimed at fighting corruption and building a just society.

“As UDF veterans we have very quickly reactivated old established networks. Before our march to parliament‚ we delivered a letter to the NPA offices in Cape Town‚ addressed to the head of the NPA‚ Shaun Abrahams‚ noting the failure of the NPA to act in terms of its Constitutional mandate‚ to root out corruption and criminal activity within the State‚” the veterans said in statement.