The DA has announced it will move to have the impeachment motion debated in Parliament on 18 August, whereupon a vote by a third of the House will be required to establish an ad hoc committee to investigate the impeachment charge.
The party says the events that led to the escape of Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir represent a clear violation of the President’s oath to “obey, observe, uphold and maintain the Constitution and all other law of the Republic,” and serve as nothing less than grounds for his removal from office in terms of section 89(1)(a) of the Constitution.
The DA believes the supremacy of the Constitution and respect for the Rule of Law were directly contravened by the Executive, under the leadership of President Zuma, when his government facilitated the escape of Al Bashir from South Africa on 15 June. The DA has thus given notice in the National Assembly of a motion of impeachment against Zuma.
Al Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), under two warrants issued in 2009 and 2010 respectively, for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. As a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the ICC, enacted into domestic law through the Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Act of 2002, the South African government had a legal obligation under both international and domestic law to arrest Al Bashir.
The DA says in a statement the Zuma government showed a blatant disregard of their legal obligations. The Cabinet granted Al Bashir immunity while attending the summit of the African Union (AU) in June, and subsequently allowed him to escape the country. President Zuma, as the head of the Cabinet, bears ultimate responsibility for this decision.
The decision to allow Al Bashir to escape was also made in contravention the two High Court orders. On 15 June the North Gauteng High Court found that the failure to arrest Al Bashir was inconsistent with the Constitution of the Republic and that he should not have been allowed to leave. By ignoring these rulings, the Executive undermined the independence and authority of the Judiciary as a separate branch of the State in terms of section 165 of the Constitution.
“Under President Zuma we have seen a degradation of the principle of the separation of powers, with the Executive showing an increased disdain for the Judiciary and the Legislative branch. The DA will not tolerate the destruction of our Constitution and the pillars on which our democracy stands. We must fight to see the supreme law of our land upheld, and those who undermine it met with the appropriate sanction. Impeaching President Jacob Zuma will go a long way to restoring the integrity of our democracy in this regard,” reads the statement.
