President evading accountability and misleading the public

11 March 2015

The events in Parliament this afternoon have reaffirmed that the President has no intention of accepting responsibility for his complicity in the theft of public funds at Nkandla, or facing accountability in Parliament for the capture of state institutions by the Executive.

The President again dismissed the findings of the Public Protector, a Chapter 9 institution, as mere recommendations, and failed to provide an adequate response to the issue of the undue benefit he received from the the upgrades to his private residence at Nkandla. According to the Public Protector, the question is not "if" the President must pay back money, only "how much".

The fact is that if the President respected the dignity of his office, he would have resigned long ago. 

The President also avoided the question on the commission of inquiry into National Director of Public Prosecutions, Mxolisi Nxasana, claiming that he has never interfered in any state institution. Yet it is precisely because of his political interference in the NPA that the Democratic Alliance (DA) is being forced to take the matter to the North Gauteng High Court on 16 March to have the 783 charges of corruption, fraud and racketeering against him reinstated. We eagerly await the day the President must answer to a court on this matter.

The answers of the President are indicative of a pattern of scapegoating and blame shifting that is unbecoming of his Office, and contrary to the oath he took to uphold the Constitution of the Republic.

Furthermore, the President's assertion that he has never failed to appear before Parliament to answer oral questions when asked to do so is factually incorrect and misleading.

The DA last year repeatedly raised the issue in the NA Programming Committee (NAPC) of when the President would be appearing. We were informed by the Speaker that a date for the President to answer questions would be forthcoming from the Presidency. The President's own Parliamentary Counsel also told us at the Chief Whip's Forum that he was waiting for the Presidency to confirm dates.

Either the Speaker, or the President, is misleading Parliament on the course of events.

NA Rule 111(1)(a) is very clear that the President has to appear to answer oral questions at least once per term, yet last year the President only appeared in the House to do so once on 21 August. On this occasion he only fully answered two questions out of six.

As per the Speaker's commitment in the House today, we will be taking up this matter in the NAPC tomorrow morning, at which time we will ensure that Parliament sets date on which the President can complete last year's session, and demand that the President complies.

The Democratic Alliance will fight to hold the President to account so that South Africans can get the answers they deserve on matters of national importance. The ends of justice cannot be defeated by one man.

Statement issued by Mmusi Maimane MP, DA Parliamentary Leader, March 11 2015

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter