The fight for a better South Africa is the new struggle
Note to Editors: The following remarks were delivered by the Democratic Alliance Leader, Mmusi Maimane, at a press briefing, in Johannesburg, with the Leaders of the APC, AGANG SA, COPE, Freedom Movement, IFP, EFF, UDM, ACDP and SaveSA.
As the Democratic Alliance (DA) we stand side-by-side with all political formations, civil society organisations, the Religious Community, and the people of South Africa, who have all called for Jacob Zuma to be removed as President of our country.
As the DA, we will respect the outcome of Monday’s matter before the highest court in the Republic, the Constitutional Court, because unlike those who hold the majority in Parliament we believe in the Constitution, which states that courts are independent and subject only to the Constitution and the law.
Those opportunists and Gupta praise singers who say the courts are being used to run the country, fail to see that Zuma and the ANC are damaging the country and believe that some should be allowed to act illegally and unconstitutionally. It should anger all citizens that the President and his ANC believe that they are above the law. No one is above the law – least not the president.
We are not using the courts to run the country, but rather to hold those in power accountable for their mismanagement of the country and its economy. The Courts are doing their job, and applying the law of the land. This has become inconvenient for a lawless president.
We call upon the ANC to support the upcoming Motion of No Confidence in Zuma because this is not about the Opposition, it is about the future of our nation. This Motion of No Confidence is about 55-million people who are being held hostage by one man and his ruling clique.
The ANC’s choice as simple as it is, has deep implications for all South Africans, especially the poor. The ANC must choose: Zuma or SA; because the two cannot co-exist.
The ANC under Jacob Zuma has radically neglected the Constitution and put the people of South Africa last in every decision they make. They no longer work to advance the country and its economy, they work to radically transform the material wealth of the Gupta family as well as other connected cronies close to Zuma.
The country is fast running out of time under Zuma and the ANC, which has continued to promote and endorse Zuma’s sham presidency. This is a presidency that has been marked by rampant unemployment, crippling corruption and socio economic decay. After 23 years, we should be working together as a people to advance our country and create opportunity for those left behind by Apartheid.
A continued endorsement of Zuma will be an endorsement of a criminal, anarchy and joblessness. If the ANC endorses, protects and promotes Jacob Zuma, then the ANC is Jacob Zuma.
Zuma’s removal from the Union Buildings will ensure that we are able to begin the process of building a better South Africa where there is economic growth and job creation; constitutionalism and national pride.
Finally, I join other Leaders in calling upon all South Africans to join us at Mary Fitzgerald Square on Wednesday, where we will stand united behind the Constitution in our call for Zuma to go and for South Africa to come first.
This is our new struggle for a better South Africa. If we do not fight today, we may not have a country to fight for tomorrow.
Issued by the DA, 12 May 2017
