Why Both Zuma and Trump Should be Held to Account
South Africa's former president Jacob Zuma, 78, saw his leadership of the governing African National Congress end with the election of Cyril Ramaphosa, in December 2017. Since then, Zuma has spent his retirement engaged in defensive action to stave off the threat of prosecution for past malfeasance going back two decades. This includes corruption and state capture charges. He shares this ignominy with his American counterpart, former U.S. president Donald Trump, who, like him, faces legal consequences for his attempts at subverting democracy while in office. Both former leaders have demonstrated their contempt for constitutional constraints, using their power while president, to destroy institutions of state, opines Roger Southall for The Conversation Africa. Zuma has refused to obey a Constitutional Court order that he appear at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry to testify on among others, the state capture allegations. He had previously walked out of the hearings, calling it unconstitutional and was charged with contempt of court.
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South Africa:
Why Both Trump and Zuma Should be Held to Account
The Conversation Africa, 2 February 2021
It can be tough when you are a former president in a democracy you have attempted to subvert, especially when that democracy comes back to bite you. Former South African president… Read more »
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South Africa:
Keeping the Faith With Constitutional Democracy - It's Not Too Late to Save South Africa
Daily Maverick, 2 February 2021
If we want to continue to live in a constitutional democracy under the rule of law we ought not to relax our vigilance. The Zuma-era agents are lurking everywhere, only the Guptas… Read more »
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South Africa:
South Africa Needs to Move Beyond Party Tropes to Hold Those Who Govern to Account
Daily Maverick, 2 February 2021
The state of our democracy has been partly shaped by the failures of the governing party, by populist personalities and the inability of our social compact to comprehensively… Read more »
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South Africa:
Dealing With Zuma - It's a Choice Between a Political and Constitutional Crisis
Daily Maverick, 2 February 2021
There are now two possible scenarios: Zuma is arrested and charged for his failure to honour the Constitutional Court ruling, or he is allowed to defy the courts. Read more »
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South Africa:
Mission Unaccomplished - Dissolve the State Security Agency and Create a New, Accountable, Expert Organisation
Daily Maverick, 2 February 2021
Evidence about the State Security Agency being heard at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture has revealed that a widespread network of traditional and off-the-books agents… Read more »
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InFocus
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Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has requested that Jacob Zuma face criminal charges after the former president walked out during the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into ... Read more »
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Former president Jacob Zuma has said not only asked Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo to recuse himself from the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture but also ... Read more »
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Africans are astonished at the disarray around the US seat of power -- especially those familiar with the playbooks of leaders who refuse to concede defeat, carry out coups or ... Read more »
Former U.S. president Donald Trump, former president Jacob Zuma, South Africa (file photo).