Tell Gordhan openly of the charge against him without harassing him
16 May 2016
Congress of the People is disgusted with the ruling party. Instead of following the Constitutional injunction and providing South Africa with a “government by the people under the Constitution” it has taken power to itself and is continuously abusing that power. Its very legitimacy is now in question. If it continues to trump the rule of law and hijack state institutions to undermine the Constitution to achieve political ends, South Africa will edge ever closer to being a banana republic. Anyone with any political memory will recognise the steep descent from the heady days of 1994 when the president of the most powerful country in the world and someone as famous as Oprah Winfrey, among other stellar personalities, rushed to the side of Nelson Mandela and admiringly embraced South Africa. Those days are no more.
All of the dividends of the early years have been frittered away through policies and politics that inspire no one and which divide people.
If Pravin Gordhan has to answer a case let him do so in a dignified manner within the strict confines of the law. The same principle should apply to Mr Zuma himself. However, continuously to dangle the sword of Damocles over Gordhan's head, through continuous media leaks, reveals only one purpose: intimidation. By continuously harassing Gordhan, Mr Zuma must be hoping to infuriate him to the point that he resigns. The interrupted project of state capture will then proceed without hindrance and impediment. That is what this harassment is all about.
The ruling party must indicate what it is that Mr Gordhan has done that warrants his prosecution. If he transgressed any law, let him be openly charged with the offence so that he can openly defend himself. Threatening to charge him repeatedly, without swiftly and openly charging him, is to misuse the law and that reeks of a conspiracy against him. It is clear to us that there is a conspiracy against the Minister of Finance because of his no nonsense approach to managing the national treasury and in particular his unwillingness to spend what he does not have.
While COPE has already laid a charge of perjury against General Ntlemeza at the Brooklyn Police station in March 2016, and a charge of corruption and treason against Mr Zuma and the Guptas, we have heard not a single word from the police. Yet we hear so much of something where no formal charge exists. Will the police investigate the charges we laid or will they be politically inclined and drag their feet on the matter? That is a question we need to ask.
If the police are involved in factional politics, they will clearly be acting ultra vires. That, very clearly, is what they seem to be doing at present. The Minister of Police Nathi Nhleko who has great fictional skills, equal to Lewis Carroll the author of Alice in Wonderland, should offer the nation a plain narrative about what is going on and whether every citizen is equal before the law.
What the Zuma government is doing today is no different to what the apartheid government did. The Zuma administration has learned and adopted all of the dirty tricks of that period. COPE calls on citizens to raise their voice for equality before the law and for true justice, consistent with our Constitution, to prevail. Citizens should not keep silent and allow the destruction of our democracy and our country to go unchallenged. We applaud the honest media for exposing the undemocratic practices of the Zuma government. Those who are in power now are desperately striving for a fawning and obsequious media that would shield it from public scrutiny as it goes about with its shenanigans.
Issued by Dennis Bloem, COPE Spokesperson, 16 May 2016
