EFF leader Julius Malema walked out of the Constitutional Court in Braamfontein a very happy man after the EFF’s victory as handed down by Chief Justice Mandisa Maya, in the party’s bid to refer the Phala Phala matter back to parliament.
Malema said he would order the chief whip of his party to write to the speaker of the National Assembly immediately to get the process started as soon as possible.
“The chief whip of the EFF should have written by now to the speaker to establish the impeachment process immediately. We cannot wait any longer; we have been waiting for too long already. The impeachment process must kick in with immediate effect, and that’s what we demand.”
The red beret leader said the impeachment committee would most likely mimic the ad hoc committee in terms of its composition.
“We have constituted impeachment processes before. Allocations to the impeachment committee will be determined by the numbers that parties have. We have the ad hoc committee now, and we are able to proceed with a number of different parties represented there. That’s how we are going to do it.
However, he stated that the impeachment process had investigative powers unlike the ad hoc committee.
“The president has got to come, sit there and account. He can’t send any minister. Among other things, we are going to demand that the impeachment committee go to Phala Phala. We want to see where those people opened a hole for access, how they did it, how they sneaked in and stole the money, and even how the money came in.”
Malema said he was eagerly awaiting state institutions that cleared Ramaphosa to be exposed.
“All of that nonsense that was said by the Reserve Bank, the South African Revenue Service and the public protector — it will all be exposed that they were using those institutions to protect an individual and not the constitution of the country.”
Malema said it will be interesting to observe the hand of several political parties in this impeachment process. “The DA was with us, saying, let’s impeach. Now that they are eating bananas and apples, let’s see if they will be able to talk now, with a full mouth.”
He lashed out at the ANC MPs who used their numerical strength to sway the vote and shield President Cyril Ramaphosa from possible impeachment.
“People use their majority to become unreasonable. That’s why we say that every decision must meet the rationality test. When you’ve got clowns in the majority, what do you do? That’s what they call themselves. You have a situation where people refuse to think and people refuse to reason,” Malema said.
“The same occurred when we were debating VAT. They wanted to take a vote because that’s what they are used to, and when they were taken through the law, they refused to listen to the law and interpret what the law says, and the court had to remind them again on these matters.”
Malema said it was a panel that stated that there was prima facie evidence, and criticised those who attempted to use their majority to “suppress corruption.”
He added that Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma was part of those vindicated today.
“They must be ashamed of themselves. Mama Zuma must be proud of herself because she acted alone against her own comrades because her own conscience was very clear. She was using the conscience as guided by the then-chief justice that parliamentarians must be guided by their conscience and not party line.”
TimesLIVE
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