South African opposition vows action to remove Zuma

JOHANNESBURG South Africa's main opposition party said on Friday it would take all steps necessary to remove President Jacob Zuma from his post, a day after the country's top court ruled he had flouted the Constitution over renovations to his private home.


Leaders of the ruling African National Congress party were due to meet to formulate a response to the Constitutional Court ruling, which held that Zuma had failed to uphold the law by ignoring instructions to pay back some of the $16 million in state money spent on the renovations.


The opposition has launched impeachment proceedings against the president, but these are unlikely to be successful because of the ANC's strong majority in parliament. Some South Africans however believe the scandal could still bring down the 73-year-old leader by persuading some in the ANC to abandon him.


"We cannot have Jacob Zuma and the Constitution in one parliament. Both those things cannot co-exist," opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane told a news conference.


"Should parliament fail to remove Jacob Zuma, we will take any and all necessary actions that we need to take" Maimane said.


The DA was joined on Friday by the Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO), the party that claims the legacy of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, in seeking to remove Zuma over the upgrades to his vast Nkandla compound in his native KwaZulu-Natal province.


"For the sake of our country and its people, President Zuma should summon the very last amount of conscience, if he still has any, and resign," AZAPO said in a statement.


Analysts say the unanimous ruling by the 11-judge Constitutional Court will help restore dented faith in the independence of key institutions from political interference.


"One of the lessons South Africa is learning at the moment is the importance of functional, well-run, credible institutions. Institutions matter and the Constitutional Court yesterday demonstrated that for us," Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Friday.


Gordhan has been seeking to reassure investors after Zuma suddenly fired his predecessor Nhlanhla Nene in December, initially replacing him with a junior ANC politician.


Zuma returned Gordhan to the post within a few days, following a previous stint in 2009-14, after a backlash on financial markets.


"REMOVE ZUMA"


The scandal over Nkandla is arguably the biggest yet to hit Zuma, who has fended off accusations of corruption, influence peddling and even rape since before he took office in 2009. Zuma has always maintained his innocence and accused political opponents of concocting accusations to smear him.


It might embolden an anti-Zuma faction within the ANC, Nelson Mandela's erstwhile liberation movement that has ruled South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994, to challenge his leadership ahead of local government elections.


"Now is the time for the ANC to remove Zuma," Boikie Motsi, 43, a car guard stationed at a Johannesburg park, said to Reuters on Friday. "The ANC will not win the local elections because of this."


Zizi Kodwa, ANC spokesman, did not immediately respond to request for comment on Friday. A party official told Reuters on Thursday the party's top six leaders were due to hold an urgent meeting to discuss the implications of the court findings.


In 2014, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, a constitutionally mandated anti-graft watchdog, identified a swimming pool, cattle enclosure, chicken run, amphitheatre and visitor center as upgrades to the Nkandla compound that were not related to security and that Zuma must therefore pay for.


Chief Justice Mogoeng gave the Treasury 60 days in which to determine their "reasonable cost", after which Zuma would have a further 45 days to pay. Early estimates of the bill were 10 million rand ($680,000), Madonsela said.


The opposition DA also called for parliamentary speaker Baleka Mbete to resign after the Constitutional Court ruled that the national assembly had also broken the law over the Nkandla renovations. Mbete's office was not immediately available to comment.


(Writing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa and)