South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has made a U-turn in court over his refusal to repay some of the $23 million of state money used to upgrade his home.
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The firing came after the National Treasury refused to approve several controversial deals, including between South African Airways and Airbus, and one to fund a one trillion rand ($50 billion) nuclear deal with Russian Federation, and was interpreted as proof of Zuma’s inclination to remove anyone that stands in his way.
After months of denying any wrongdoing, Zuma said last week that he would pay back money spent on improvements that did not relate to security and asked the auditor general and finance minister to decide an appropriate figure.
He noted that while mining and manufacturing data will be released by Statistics South Africa on Thursday, “the economic data is thin on the ground in the rest of the world today”.
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Opposition parties brought the case against Mr Zuma to the Constitutional Court, whose proceedings in a packed chamber were shown on live television.
He bowed to the pressure by dismissing Van Rooyen four days later, and appointing the highly regarded Pravin Gordhan to the post.
He said they were there to uphold the Constitution of the country.
In wake of the economic slowdown the opposition has flaked Zuma’s leadership in a hope to remove him from power.
The central bank has forecast growth will reach only 0.9 per cent this year and unemployment is at 25 per cent.
The court did not give a date for a ruling in the case, which has become a focal point for complaints about corruption in the government.
“The most appropriate pronouncement president Zuma could make during his state of the nation address this evening is to announce his resignation”, party leader Mmusi Maimane said in a statement.
“All we want is to get the President to be accountable”.
This was the reaction of United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa after Zuma’s lawyer conceded in the Constitutional Court yesterday that the findings of the Public Protector were binding and could only be challenged to review in a court.
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Phillips added that it would be interesting to see whether Zuma has adapted his speech following the ConCourt session on Tuesday.
