Parly rejects motion to impeach President

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Cape Town – A motion, by opposition party the Democratic Alliance, to lobby Members of Parliament (MPs) to establish an Ad Hoc Committee to look into President Jacob Zuma’s fitness to hold office, has fallen through.

After a debate at the National Assembly on Tuesday, 211 MPs voted for the motion to be rejected, 100 were in favour of the motion, while one MP abstained from voting.

The motion was in relation to the matter currently before the South Gauteng High Court where government is appealing an order that found government to have been in contempt of a court for not arresting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir when he was in South Africa for the African Union (AU) Summit, in June this year.

Small Business Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu said an arrest of a sitting Head of State would have affected South Africa’s diplomatic relations with the African Union member states.

The Minister said this when responding to a debate on a motion brought before Parliament to establish an Ad Hoc Committee to inquire into whether President Jacob Zuma should be removed from office in terms of Section 89 (1) (a) of the Constitution.

“Honourable speaker, the question of whether South Africa has a legal obligation of arresting a sitting foreign Head of State is a complex matter concerning both international and national law has far reaching implications for the conduct of international relations, including the continent.

“In terms of customary international law, sitting Heads of State and Government are afforded criminal and civil immunity in domestic jurisdiction of another state…”

The motion for the establishment of the Ad Hoc Committee was brought by DA leader Mmusi Maimane.

The opposition leader had brought the motion alleging that government violated the Constitution by not arresting President Bashir when he was in the country despite a warrant of arrest being issued against him by the International Criminal Court.

The Minister said domestic and international laws were consistent with the Constitution.

“In terms of section 232 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996, customary international law is law in South Africa unless it is inconsistent with the Constitution or Acts of Parliament.

“Furthermore, Section 4 of the Diplomatic Immunities and Privileges Act no 37 of 2001 specifically incorporates the customary international law rule pertaining to immunities of sitting Heads of State and Government into the South African domestic law.”

Economic Freedom Fighters MP Godrich Gardee said while they believe the President should be impeached for a variety of reasons, they would not support the motion because arresting President Bashir would have been a declaration of war.

“Those that want to arrest [President] Bashir should board the first available flight to Darfur and arrest him there,” he said.

Other parties that opposed the motion included UDM and African People’s Convention.  – SAnews.gov.za