The decision by President Jacob Zuma – and now the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) – to appeal the court judgment that declared him too conflicted to appoint an NPA head to replace Shaun Abrahams is a shocking waste of money. This confirms that President Zuma is willing to use all methods possible to avoid facing charges.
It also proves that Shaun Abrahams is a Zuma lackey, planted in the NPA to serve at President Zuma’s pleasure, no matter the cost to the public.
When Zuma allowed Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng to appoint a judge to lead the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture as per former Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela’s, “State of Capture” report recommendations, he conceded that his executive function can be fulfilled by someone else if he is too conflicted.
It therefore makes no sense for him to oppose the court ruling that Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa should make the appointment within 60 days.
Zuma’s actions continue to prove that he remains in charge and that very little has changed since the ANC elective Congress. It shows that the ANC has not self-corrected and that Zuma is still trying to run away from the law at the taxpayers’ expense.
Zuma is certainly no stranger to wasting public money. He did exactly this when, for example, he withdrew his court bid to interdict the release of the State of Capture report in 2016, dropped large parts of his review application of the same report in 2017, and then opposed the appointment of a Judge to head the Inquiry by the Chief Justice only to give in in the end and allow Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng to make the appointment after all.
The President has also defended numerous court cases in the past two years which he lost – including the Nkandla matter, which he fought all the way to the Constitutional Court only to have his counsel make key concessions in their arguments on the day of the hearing.
In the Spy Tapes matter alone, he has squandered R10 million to avoid being charged with 783 counts of fraud, racketeering and corruption.
If Ramaphosa to truly serious about combatting corruption and really in charge of the ANC hold Zuma accountable for wasting public funds.