The Economic Freedom Fighters approached the Constitutional Court a year ago to force President Jacob Zuma to pay back some of the money spent on upgrades to his Nkandla homestead. Previously Zuma has indicated that the remedial action was not “binding” like a court order.
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This would give the office of the Public Protector the power to hold government to ultimate account, but largerly ignores the wording of the Public Protector Act and deprives government of any real discretion in implemting the reports.
EFF leader Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu arrived earlier, saying they’ll be leading a large number of supporters from Newtown to the court later this morning.
This also forms the crux of the EFF’s, the DA’s and Corruption Watch’s cases.
They will also argue they had a right to take this case directly to the Constitutional Court because only it has the power to make findings where the president is accused of breaching the Constitution.
The party would argue that Zuma’s decision to substitute the public protector’s remedial action with a report by Police Minister Nathi Nhleko, was illegal and unconstitutional.
Spokesperson Dennis Bloem says president Zuma has been violating the constitution for far too long.
Nhleko found that all the features installed at Nkandla were necessary for security and that Zuma was thus not liable to pay for any of them. “The supremacy of the Constitution must remain intact and inviolable”, he said.
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Last week Zuma said he is prepared to pay an amount determined by the auditor general and the finance minister for upgrades to non-security features at his home in Nkandla.
