Illegal for MPs & Ministers to prop up President Zuma
12 February 2016
President Zuma violated his office in defying the Public Protector over two years. He allowed ANC Ministers, Deputy Ministers and MPs to frustrate, belittle and attack the Public Protector in clear violation of section (181)(3) of the Constitution. The ANC led government did nothing whatsoever in the last two years “to ensure the independence, impartiality, dignity and effectiveness” of this Chapter 9 institution. In fact, it acted repeatedly in contradistinction to those constitutional requirements.
Lebo Keswa, on 31 August 2014, wrote in the Sunday Independent, “consider how the ANCYL, the YCL and Cosas have taken to even insulting and denigrating the public protector at will, with no word of protest from the ANC leadership.”
President Zuma also allowed his Ministers to attack the judiciary until the Chief Justice requested a meeting with President Zuma and got an undertaking from the President to respect the judiciary.
On 30 June 2015, The Centre for Constitutional Rights (the CFCR) noted with great concern the increasing attacks on the independence, impartiality, dignity and effectiveness of the courts by senior members of the African National Congress (ANC) and its alliance partners.