NEWS & ANALYSIS

Maimane asks Mbete to investigate Zuma's conduct in Parliament

DA leader wants to know if ANC can use its majority to absolve a criminal

Maimane asks Mbete to investigate Zuma's conduct in Parliament

6 April 2016

Johannesburg - DA leader Mmusi Maimane says he will write a letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly to ask that President Jacob Zuma's conduct be investigated.

He told journalists in Soweto on Wednesday he would write to Baleka Mbete to request an investigation into Zuma's conduct in Parliament.

‎"The question has to be asked whether Parliament, as it has been found to have flouted the Constitution, did it explore all avenues that it's supposed to do. I'm writing today to the Speaker of the National Assembly to say, is there a question about Jacob Zuma's conduct that must be investigated by Parliament, because actually he misled Parliament.

"He came to say he had a bond, he came to say he was never going to pay. I remember after he joked to say Nkandla, he made the statement subsequent to that to say he has no responsibility to pay," he said.

Maimane said a legal question had emerged out of the Constitutional Court judgment. He said Zuma had not only acted in violation of the Constitution, but had used his majority to violate, not only their oath of office as a member of Parliament, but the Constitution itself. ‎

‎"We need to clarify that lacuna that's sits in the Constitution. Can the ANC use its majority to, in fact, absolve a criminal? I've tasked our legal team to take the necessary action," he said.

Maimane was visiting Soweto to encourage the community to vote. He was accompanied by ‎Metro mayoral candidates Athol Trollip, Patricia De Lille, Herman Mashaba and Simon Msimang.

This article first appeared on News24, see here