Parliament must take action: Saftu

The South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) has welcomed the Constitutional Court judgment which found that the National Assembly did not hold President Jacob Zuma to account in its handling of the Nkandla matter.

Saftu urged the National Assembly to take action following the court’s ruling.

“Saftu demands that Parliament immediately takes action to comply with this ruling. There can be no more appeals against the highest court in the land.

“The federation also calls on the ANC to act decisively against its former president‚ to remove him as president of the country‚ and to appoint a new national director of public prosecutions‚ who will be able to open a case not only on the Nkandla issue but all the other charges of corruption which he [Zuma] faces.

“Saftu however warns that Zuma must not be singled out as the only culprit in these matters. All the other public officials‚ state-owned enterprise executives and their accomplices in the private sector who have been implicated in the Gupta emails‚ Jacques Pauw’s book and elsewhere must face the might of the law‚” Saftu said in its statement.

Earlier‚ the Constitutional Court ruled that the National Assembly had not held Zuma to account as required by the Constitution.

Justice Chris Jafta said there were four judgments‚ two reaching a particular outcome and two with a different outcome. But Jafta said there was a majority judgment of the court.

He said the application by the Economic Freedom Fighters and other political parties this year was a sequel to a judgment the Constitutional Court delivered in March 2016.

In this Nkandla judgment the Constitutional Court found that the president had failed to uphold‚ defend and respect the Constitution by failing to comply with the public protector’s remedial action.

The political parties sought an order that the National Assembly should adopt rules governing the removal of president from office.

The parties went to court earlier this year following the inaction by Parliament to hold the president to account.