JOIN TOGETHER TO IMPEACH PRESIDENT ZUMA

President Zuma has shown hardly any inclination and absolutely no appetite to champion the Constitution of which he is required to be the chief custodian. If anything, he and some of his cabinet colleagues have been white anting and diminishing the Constitution to erode the checks and balances necessary in a rules based society and thriving democracy.

The order of the Supreme Court of Appeals for the NPA to deliver the written transcripts and or notes on which the former acting head of the NPA, Advocate Mokotedi Mpshe based his withdrawal of more than 300 criminal cases against Mr Jacob Zuma has gone unheeded for nine months.

The legal affairs of the President are so tangled that he profits from them without taking direct blame. Others must carry the can.

Schabir Shaik escaped a long prison term, Advocate Mokotedi Mpshe has now been appointed acting judge, and others have been enjoying his largesse for creating a firewall around him.

The time has come for those on the government benches who still have the fire of the true liberation struggle burning in them to join with me and those on the opposition side to effect an impeachment of President Zuma.

Just fifty true and noble spirits yearning to rescue our country from hurtling into chaos under a President too self-centred to care what harm he causes and what danger he exposes the country are needed to join with us to rid our beloved country of the scourge that has afflicted it.

I shall request opposition parties to declare support for my call to impeach President Zuma and I repeat my call to all members of Parliament to act on their conscience and do what they know requires to be done.

Just fifty members of the National Assembly from the government benches can help to rescue the rule of law and the centrality of the Constitution and end the incumbency of a President who is shaming our country and our people. They must act now or take the responsibility for the further chaos that will ensue and the erosion of the Constitution that will occur. Please join us in beginning a process that will lead to the impeachment of President Zuma.

Statement issued by Mosiuoa Lekota, COPE President & Parliamentary Leader, October 24 2012

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