A broken man who broke the law to protect another broken man

Speech in Parliament by Mmusi Maimane, Leader of the Democratic Alliance

1 September 2015

Madam Speaker, Honourable Members.

Goeie middag, Bagaetsho, Dumelang.

Each of us in this House today is faced with a choice.

We can choose a future based on the rule of law. Where every person is equal before the law, no matter the position they hold or the wealth they have acquired. Where the life of every person has equal value.

Or we can choose a future based on the rule of ‘big men’. Where might is right, where rich and powerful politicians literally get away with murder. Where the lives of ordinary African people are cheap and expendable.

In other words, our choice today is between the rule of law and the rule of war.

If you don’t believe me, let me read you an extract from the Washington Post, dated 1 July 2004:

 At first light on Sunday, three young women walked into a scrubby field just outside their refugee camp in West Darfur. They had gone out to collect straw for their family’s donkeys. They recalled thinking that the Arab militiamen who were attacking African tribes at night would still be asleep. But six men grabbed them, yelling Arabic slurs such as “zurga” and “abid” meaning “black” and “slave.” Then the men raped them, beat them and left them on the ground.

One of the survivors, 22-year old Sawela Suleiman told a journalist, and I quote:

They grabbed my donkey and my straw and said, “Black girl, you are too dark. You are like a dog. We want to make a light baby.” 

As this young woman recounted her story, she displayed the slashes on her thighs where her attackers had repeatedly whipped her as they raped her. It is hard to imagine, but by surviving this unthinkable ordeal, this young woman was one of the lucky ones. 

Madam Speaker, more than 400 000 men, women and children were killed in the genocide in Darfur. They were killed on the orders of a murderous tyrant by the name of Omar al-Bashir.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) found that “there are reasonable grounds to believe that Omar Al Bashir is criminally responsible” for “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population.” The charges against him include the murder, extermination, forcible transfer, rape, torture and genocide of fellow Africans.

On another day we can debate the merits of the ICC, but today we debate our Constitution.

Omar Al Bashir represents everything that is dark about the world we live in.

He joins the ranks of genocidal dictators from across the globe – Hitler of Germany, Pol Pot of Cambodia, Stalin of the Soviet Union and Chairman Mao of the People’s Republic of China.

These are the big men of our times. And, like all bullies, they are broken men. Broken men whose self-esteem depends on bending others to their will. Broken men who will stop at nothing in the pursuit of power. Broken men presiding over broken societies.

When Nelson Mandela said that “human rights will be the light that guides our foreign affairs”, he issued a warning to all such broken men. No more would South Africa protect dictators at the expense of ordinary people. All would be equal before the law.

This government officially abandoned Nelson Mandela’s commitment to a human rights based foreign policy on 15 June 2015. That was the day that Omar Al-Bashir was smuggled away from South African soil in defiance of an order of the North Gauteng High Court. 

It was an escape aided and abetted by President Zuma himself.

The AU chairperson, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, confirmed this during a media briefing after the AU summit, stating that “[Zuma] said President al-Bashir would not be arrested.”

Indeed, on 6 August 2015, in this House, President acknowledged that the decision to allow Al-Bashir to escape was based on a decision of his Cabinet to grant Al-Bashir immunity. 

On that day, when President Zuma helped a mass murderer escape justice, he trampled on the legacy of Tata Madiba, and ultimately violated our Constitution.

And, on that day, when President Zuma chose to violate a court order, he attacked the very foundations of our constitutional democracy.

Madam Speaker, on 15 June 2015, our broken president broke the law to protect another broken man. 

This is why we have tabled this motion to look into the impeachment of President Zuma today.

The Constitution of our country provides for impeachment proceedings should the President commit a “serious violation of the Constitution and the law.” 

That the President has committed such a constitutional violation is not in any doubt. Consider the facts:

On 12 June, the ICC met with the Ambassador of South Africa to the Netherlands, at the request of the South African government. The ICC made it clear that South Africa “is under the obligation to arrest … Al Bashir.”

Specifically, the Ambassador was reminded that the Security Council had lifted the immunities of Al-Bashir, and South Africa “could not invoke any other decision, including that of the African Union,” negating their obligation to arrest him.

Further to this, on 14 June 2015, an interim order was granted by the North Gauteng High Court prohibiting Al-Bashir from leaving the Republic.

This was followed by the order of 15 June by the same court that found that the failure to arrest Al-Bashir was “inconsistent with the Constitution of the Republic” and that any decision by Cabinet to do so was invalid and unlawful. 

Honourable Members, there is no higher calling than to lead our nation as the President of the Republic. It is an honour that should be reserved only for those with the deepest commitment to the laws of our country.

Yet on 15 June, President Jacob Zuma held our constitutional order in contempt. By aiding and abetting the escape of a convicted war criminal, the President contravened both international and domestic law.

Nothing illustrates the ANC’s slide into the moral abyss under Jacob Zuma like this does. Gone is the party that once stood for constitutionalism and the rule of law. Gone is the selfless struggle of Nelson Mandela.

In its place is a shell that reverberates with empty rhetoric; a party hollowed out by President Zuma and the corrupt clique around him. These are the people who brought you Nkandlagate, Guptagate, Spygate, and, coming soon, to a tender near you… Nucleargate.

I know that many of you on the governing party benches are worried about the direction your party is going in.

I know this because it says so in the discussion document released ahead of your National General Council meeting.

Your NGC document admits that there is “a general impression of systemic corruption…ranging from unsavoury developments in state-owned enterprises [to] strange machinations within security and tax authorities.” 

The NGC document also singles out the failure to account to “relevant constitutional bodies” such as the Public Protector and the judiciary.

The NGC document goes on to say, and I quote: “The negative trends are an injunction for the ANC to mend its ways.”

I could not agree more. 

But, Honourable Members on my right, if you want to mend your party’s ways, don’t think you can simply fix your broken President. 

You know as well as I do that he is beyond repair. The time has come to discard this broken man, before he does any more damage.

You have done it once, you can do it again.

Today is your opportunity to put South Africa back on track. As somebody once said: “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.”

Indeed, we stand here in the crucible of a constitutional crisis. The Executive overrode an order of the Judiciary and, in doing so, breached the sacred principle of separation of powers. 

Today this House has a choice between being colonized in support of President Jacob Zuma, or to uphold the oath we all took to defend our Constitution.

I am not asking you for much. All I am asking is this Parliament is to hold the Executive to account for breaking the law.

That is the separation of powers in action: each branch of government checking and balancing the other. I could not think of a better way to re-affirm the supremacy of our constitutional order.

So join us, Honourable Members. Don’t let this Constitutional Crisis go to waste. Vote today to impeach this broken President.

I thank you.

Issued by the DA, September 1 2015