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Tag: President Jacob Zuma

  • $2.5 bn arms deal: I am innocent, Zuma tells cheering crowd

    Former South African President Jacob Zuma told thousands supporters outside court in Durban yesterday that his opponents were telling lies and he would be proved innocent in a corruption case against him.

    Speaking in Zulu in his home province, Zuma said that the judiciary and politicians believed that he did not have rights.

    “The truth will come out. What have I done?” Zuma told the cheering crowd.

    “I am innocent until proved guilty.”

    The Durban High Court adjourned until June 8 the case of corruption in a 2.5 billion arms deal dollars, filed against Zuma.

    Zuma’s legal team and lawyers for the state agreed to the postponement to give both sides time to prepare their submissions relating to charges against Zuma, including fraud, racketeering and money laundering.

    The 75-year-old, whose scandal-plagued nine years in office were marked by economic stagnation and credit downgrades,faces 16 charges including fraud, racketeering and money laundering.

    Zuma denies any wrongdoing and is challenging the decision to prosecute the case, a dramatic development on a continent where political leaders are rarely held to account for their actions before the law.

    Wearing a dark suit, a smiling Zuma waved to crowds of supporters and reporters as he climbed the steps of the High Court in Durban shortly before 0700 GMT.

    Zuma, who was forced to resign by the ANC last month, was at the centre of a 1990s deal to buy billions of dollars of European military hardware to upgrade South Africa’s post-apartheid armed forces.

    The deal was mired in scandal and controversy from the start, with many inside and outside the ANC questioning the spending given the massive social issues, from health to education, Nelson Mandela’s party had to address after coming to power in 1994.

    Fallout has cast a shadow over South African politics ever since.

    Zuma was deputy president at the time. Schabir Shaikh, his former financial adviser, was found guilty and jailed in 2005 for trying to solicit bribes for Zuma from a subsidiary of French arms company, Thales.

    The company is facing charges in the same case.

    Charges against Zuma were filed, but then set aside by the National Prosecuting Authority shortly before he successfully ran for president in 2009.

    The charges were re-instated in 2016.

    Since his election nine years ago, his opponents have fought a lengthy legal battle to have the charges reinstated.

    Zuma countered with his own legal challenges.

  • Ramaphosa to step in as Zuma resigns

    Ramaphosa to step in as Zuma resigns

    South Africa’s embattled President Jacob Zuma last night resigned his office with immediate effect.

    He made the announcement in a televised address to the nation.

    Earlier, Mr Zuma’s governing African National Congress (ANC) told him to resign or face a vote of no confidence in parliament today.

    The 75-year-old has been under increasing pressure to give way to Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, the ANC’s new leader.

    Mr Zuma, who has been in power since 2009, faces numerous allegations of corruption.

    His resignation came at the end of a long speech in which he said he disagreed with the way the ANC had acted towards him.

    He said he did not fear a motion of no-confidence, adding: “I have served the people of South Africa to the best of my ability.”

    Mr Zuma also said that violence and division within the ANC had influenced his decision to step down.

    “No life should be lost in my name and also the ANC should never be divided in my name. I have therefore come to the decision to resign as president of the republic with immediate effect,” he said.

    “Even though I disagree with the decision of the leadership of my organisation, I have always been a disciplined member of the ANC.

    “As I leave I will continue to serve the people of South Africa as well as the ANC, the organisation I have served… all of my life.”

    The ANC issued a statement saying Mr Zuma’s resignation provided “certainty to the people of South Africa”.

    Mr Zuma, a former member of the ANC’s military wing in the days of apartheid, rose through the ranks of the party to become president. He led the country for more than a third of its time after apartheid.

    But he leaves office with several scandals hanging over him, and with South Africa’s economy in dire straits.

    The Parliament will today elect Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa into office as President.

  • Zuma to face no-confidence vote on Thursday – ANC

    Zuma to face no-confidence vote on Thursday – ANC

    South Africa’s parliament will hold a vote of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma on Thursday, the governing ANC party said on Wednesday.

    “We will possibly elect a new president on Thursday … if not Friday,” ANC treasurer general Paul Mashatile told journalists, assuming scandal-hit Zuma will lose the vote.

    “We want certainty.

    “We would like the incoming president [to hold the postponed State of the Nation address] without delay.”

    The vote of no confidence, requested by opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters, had initially been scheduled for Feb. 22.

    The ANC caucus in parliament decided to move the vote forward after it formally asked Zuma to resign on Tuesday.

    Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said that Zuma would speak at 0800 GMT and satellite trucks were in position at Pretoria’s Union Buildings, the seat of the country’s government.

    Zuma’s office said there was no “official communication” of any impending address but urged media to wait.

    The Secretary-General of South Africa’s ANC said Zuma did not threaten to challenge his removal by the party in court, as speculated by local media.

    Ace Magashule, the sribe of the ANC, had told a news conference that Zuma would respond by Wednesday on the decision to “recall” him.

    “President Jacob Zuma has behaved like a leader of the ANC.

    “He has never threatened us with any court action, not at all.

    “He did in fact confirm that he would respond by tomorrow.”

    Read Also:  ANC asks Zuma to resign

    The ANC ordered Zuma to step down as head of state after marathon talks over the fate of a leader whose scandal-plagued years in power darkened and divided Nelson Mandela’s post-apartheid ‘Rainbow Nation’.

    Leading members of the ANC want new party leader Cyril Ramaphosa to replace Zuma as president, Magashule told a news conference.

    The party’s national executive was split on precisely when Zuma should go, Magashule added, leaving the president’s immediate fate still hanging in the balance.

    Zuma has been living on borrowed time since Ramaphosa, a union leader once tipped as Mandela’s pick to take over the reins, was elected as head of the 106-year-old ANC in December, narrowly defeating Zuma’s ex-wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

    In spite of the damning decision to order Zuma’s “recall” ANC-speak for ‘remove from office’ domestic media have speculated that the 75-year-old might yet defy the party’s wishes, forcing it into the indignity of having to unseat him in parliament.

    Shortly before midnight, the SABC state broadcaster said Zuma had been told in person by Ramaphosa that he had 48 hours to resign.

    A senior party source later told Reuters Zuma had made clear that he was going nowhere.

    “Ramaphosa went to speak with him,” the source said, adding that when Ramaphosa returned to the ANC meeting in a Pretoria hotel, the discussions were tense and difficult”.

    “We decided to recall Zuma. He hasn’t been told yet,” the source said.

    On Friday his wife Tobeka Madiba-Zuma posted comments on Instagram suggesting Zuma, who has challenged and defied attempts by the ANC and courts to rein him in, was prepared to fight and believed he was the victim of a Western conspiracy.

    “He will finish what he started because he does not take orders beyond the Atlantic Ocean,” she said.

    South Africa’s economy, the most sophisticated on the continent, has stagnated under Zuma’s nine-year tenure, with banks and mining firms reluctant to invest because of policy uncertainty and rampant corruption

    So far there has been silence from Zuma in response to Tuesday’s ANC order, suggesting a power struggle behind the scenes with new party leader Cyril Ramaphosa.

    Besides his controversial relationship with the influential Guptas family,  Zuma has 783 counts of corruption outstanding against him relating to a multi-billion dollar state arms deal in the late 1990s.

    Zuma’s spokesman could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

    ANC spokesman Pule Mabe told state broadcaster SABC that Zuma remained “a disciplined member of the ANC and would do what is best for a cadre of the movement”.

    Besides the pressure from the ANC, Zuma is facing a no-confidence motion in parliament brought by the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters and set for Feb. 22.

    The ANC could throw its weight behind such a vote if Zuma, who has survived several no-confidence motions in the past, refused to resign.

  • Zuma will no longer travel to Zimbabwe on mediation mission – Presidency

    Zuma will no longer travel to Zimbabwe on mediation mission – Presidency

    South African President Jacob Zuma will no longer travel to Zimbabwe on a mediation mission as previously planned, the Presidency announced on Wednesday.

    Zuma had planned to visit Zimbabwe to mediate a peaceful solution to the Zimbabwean political crisis on Wednesday.

    He cancelled the plan following the resignation on Tuesday of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

    Mugabe’s resignation was announced by Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda during a joint sitting of Senate and National Assembly that was debating his impeachment motion.

    Under a decision made on Tuesday by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Organ Troika Plus SADC Chairperson Summit in Angola, Zuma, in his capacity as the SADC Chairperson, and Angolan President Joao Lourenco, also Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, should travel to Zimbabwe to assess the situation on behalf of SADC on Wednesday.

    In light with the latest development in Zimbabwe, the visit has now been postponed until further notice, presidential spokesperson Bongani Ngqulunga said in a statement.

    Read Also:  Jacob Zuma of South Africa 

  • South African, Angolan leaders to visit Zimbabwe Wednesday

    South African, Angolan leaders to visit Zimbabwe Wednesday

    President Jacob Zuma of South Africa and his Angolan counterpart, Joao Lourenco, will travel on Wednesday to Zimbabwe, where 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe is under growing pressure to resign, South Africa’s state broadcaster said.

    Zuma, chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), deployed a special envoy to Zimbabwe in light of the developments regarding Mugabe.

    The envoy, who started in Angola, was accompanied by Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and State Security Minister Bongani Bongo.

    “The Special Envoys were sent to the Republic of Angola to see President Lourenco, Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security to brief him on the situation,” the presidency said in a statement.

    Mugabe and his family have been under military guard as the army also took over the state broadcaster earlier, in what many have described as a coup.

    “President Zuma spoke to President Robert Mugabe earlier today who indicated that he was confined to his home but said that he was fine,” the Presidency said.

    It also said South Africa was in contact with the Zimbabwean Defence Force.

    Zuma reiterated his earlier calls for calm and restraint in Zimbabwe.

    Meanwhile, parliament Speaker Jacob Mudenda said he received a motion to impeach and the parliament would adjourn to a hotel to start the proceedings on Tuesday afternoon.

    Zimbabwean law says a joint sitting can take place anywhere.

    Thousands or people demonstrated outside parliament urging Mugabe to quit.

    Mugabe led Zimbabwe’s liberation war and is hailed as one of Africa’s founding fathers and a staunch supporter of the drive to free neighbouring South Africa from apartheid in 1994.

    Many people in Africa and beyond also say he has damaged Zimbabwe’s economy, democracy and judiciary by staying in power for too long and has used violence to crush perceived political opponents.

  • Zuma: Court rules on secret ballot possiblity

    Zuma: Court rules on secret ballot possiblity

    South Africa’s Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that the speaker of parliament can order a secret ballot in an upcoming no-confidence vote against President Jacob Zuma, a move that would open the way for members of his own party to vote against him.

    The ruling might also make it possible to eventually oust the president, who has come under mounting pressure to resign over a string of corruption scandals.

    “Without any fear of reprisals, the secret ballot has been identified as the best voting mechanism” by opposition parties, Chief Justice Mogoeng. Mogoeng said during the court session broadcast live by the television channel eNCA.

    Zuma has already survived several no-confidence motions, but he is now facing increasing criticism within his own African National Congress (ANC).

    The small opposition party United Democratic Movement (UDM), which asked the Constitutional Court to authorise a secret ballot, said ANC members were being threatened with losing their jobs if they voted against the president.

    Analysts say a faction of the ANC could turn against Zuma if the ballot is secret.

    Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete, a member of the ANC, had earlier said she had no powers to order a secret ballot.

    Mbete’s argument had no legal foundation, Mogoeng said, leaving the decision about the ballot in the hands of the speaker.

    The main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) proposed the no-confidence vote after Zuma sacked popular finance minister Pravin Gordhan in March, prompting two rating agencies to downgrade South Africa.

    The date of the vote has not yet been set.

    The DA on Thursday called on it to be held as soon as possible and urged all legislators to “vote to fire Zuma.”

    The president’s reputation has been tarnished by a string of scandals, including the use of taxpayers’ money to upgrade his country home and his friendship with the Gupta business family, which has been accused of securing lucrative state contracts in corrupt deals.

  • South African court declares nuclear deal with Russia illegal

    South Africa’s plan to expand its nuclear programme in cooperation with Russia suffered a setback on Wednesday when a court ruled that it was illegal.

    The Western Cape High Court in a ruling held that the government’s way of handling the preliminary agreement was “unconstitutional and unlawful and it is reviewed and set aside,”

    The court also set aside cooperation agreements in the field of nuclear energy concluded with South Korea and the United States.

    Two environmental organizations launched the case in October 2015, arguing that the agreements had not been debated by parliament.

    The court said the necessary procurement processes and procedures were not completely followed.

    The deal foresaw a strategic partnership with Russian state nuclear company Rosatom, through which Russia would help construct a nuclear power plant and a research reactor, Russian state news agency TASS reported.

    Calls to Rosatom’s press service in Moscow went unanswered on Wednesday.

    The deal would have allowed South Africa to acquire 9.6 gigawatts of additional nuclear power by 2030 in an attempt to diversify its energy sources from ageing coal-fired plants.

    The regional superpower currently has the continent’s only nuclear power plant, but it gets more than 90 per cent of its energy from coal.

    The nuclear expansion is opposed by groups advocating renewable energies, while others say South Africa cannot afford its cost, estimated at 1 trillion rand (76 billion dollars).

    President Jacob Zuma recently fired finance minister Pravin Gordhan, who had warned about the cost of new nuclear plants.

    The sacking of the respected minister, which prompted two ratings agencies to downgrade South Africa, fueled concern over possible corruption in the Russian deal

  • Zuma must go, South African protesters insist

    Zuma must go, South African protesters insist

    Tens of thousands of South Africans Friday stormed the streets of Johannesburg,Cape Town,Durban , Pretoria and other major cities  in a national outpouring of anger at scandal-tainted President Jacob Zuma.

    Nobel laureate and anti-apartheid leader Desmond Tutu, 85 and ailing, made a rare public appearance to support the protests.

    His foundation posted a scathing tweet in his name: “We will pray for the downfall of a government that misrepresents us.”

    In Johannesburg, police fired rubber bullets to disperse about 100 ruling party members who were making their way toward protesters, the African News Agency reported.

    Separately, ruling party members assaulted several protesters participating in a march organized by the Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s biggest opposition group.

    DA leader,Mmusi Maimane said in Pretoria that Zuma is a junk president.

    “We are not a junk country we just have a junk president,” Maimane said.

    Other ANC members in military uniforms who had been posted outside their party headquarters helped to escort the protesters to safety.

    Police in Pietermaritzburg city also fired rubber bullets to keep Zuma supporters away from a rally against him.

    The Fitch agency cited political uncertainty as a factor in its decision to downgrade South Africa’s credit rating to below investment grade; days after Standard & Poor’s did the same.

    Zuma’s Cabinet reshuffle, in which Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan was fired, will further discourage companies from investing in South Africa and could weaken “standards of governance and public finances,” Fitch said.

    The government appealed for calm and said it respected the right to protest peacefully. The country turned to democracy after white minority rule ended in 1994 with the country’s first all-race vote and the election of Nelson Mandela as president.

    In some cities, protesters with banners lined stretches of road or stood on overpasses; passing cars honked their horns. In the capital, Pretoria, they marched to the Union Buildings, which houses the offices of Zuma and other government officials. In Cape Town, motorcyclists with South African flags led a rally. “Fire Zuma,” read some placards.

    South African media outlets posted photos of Tutu and his wife, Leah, standing with residents at a bus shelter outside the retirement home where they are staying in Hermanus, near Cape Town. Tutu was shown smiling and raising a walking stick, apparently to acknowledge passing protesters.

    The retired Anglican archbishop, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his peaceful campaign against apartheid, has criticized the ANC for alleged mismanagement over the years.

    He has been hospitalized several times since 2015 because of infections linked to past treatment for prostate cancer.

     

  • Zuma celebrates 74th birthday amid growing opposition

    Zuma celebrates 74th birthday amid growing opposition

    South African President, Jacob Zuma, celebrated his 74th birthday on Tuesday, amid growing calls for his resignation, mostly from the opposition.

    “My birthday wish is to see South Africa increasingly becoming a better place for all,’’ Zuma said in a message to the nation.

    Presidential spokesperson, Bongani Majola, said that Zuma would spend the day with his family in Pretoria.

    The president is embroiled in a series of scandals, notably improper state spending on his rural home and the Gupta business family’s alleged undue influence over his government.

    South Africa’s top court in late March ruled that Zuma violated the constitution by ignoring orders from an anti-corruption body for him to repay public money improperly used during security upgrades at his private home in Nkandla.

    The opposition has failed in a bid to impeach Zuma in parliament following the ruling.

    It has also accused Zuma of his links with the Indian-South African Gupta family after some sitting and former officials alleged the Guptas offered them ministerial posts.

     

  • Zuma’s SONA resonates with business

    Zuma’s SONA resonates with business

    Business Unity SA says it is pleased with President Jacob Zuma’s reaffirmation of the National Development Plan in his State of the Nation Address.

    But the business body remains less optimistic about the effective implementation of the NDP.

    The NDP is an economic policy framework aimed at eliminating poverty and inequality by 2030.

    Busa says it will continue to engage with government, with the aim of implementing the NDP and boosting economic growth.

    It also welcomed measures to tackle youth unemployment.

    The SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry expressed similar views, saying they welcomed Zuma’s optimistic tone, but wanted a more forward-looking view.