Cape Town – President Cyril Ramaphosa has defended the granting of special remission to former President Jacob Zuma and others, asserting that it was not in violation of the constitution.
Ramaphosa was response to a question from DA leader John Steenhuisen in the National Assembly on Tuesday.
Steenhuisen had criticised the release of Zuma, claiming it undermined the rule of law and accused the president of prioritising his political party over the interests of South Africans.
“The way to defend the judiciary is to uphold the rule of law and implement the findings of the judiciary. And no one has done more to undermine the rule of law than you and the ANC. In fact, you’ve entrusted yourself to a pretzel to avoid the deeds of the ANC,” City Press quoted Steenhuisen as saying.
He added: “But last month, Mr President, went to a new low when you released Jacob Zuma after he spent less than two hours in prison for gross contempt of court because he showed the middle finger to the rule of law and the Chief Justice. And you release him in the most disingenuous way, Mr President, in the guise of special revision, you released over 9 400 convicted criminals just to buy cover to let a single man off free.”
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But Ramaphosa argued that the constitution outlines clear rules for processes like granting pardon and remission, and the decision to grant remission to thousands of individuals, including Zuma, was in accordance with the constitution.
“Our constitution is very clear in terms of the rules it sets out for processes such as granting pardon, remission and even in this instance when we granted the remission to 9, 000 people who had been sentenced.
“It was not in contravention of our constitution, it was very much in line with what our constitution says,” said Ramaphosa, according to Times Live.
He also mentioned plans for discussions between the executive and the judiciary to address administrative matters affecting the judiciary’s functioning and stressed the importance of maintaining a strong, independent judiciary.
Ramaphosa emphasised that the executive had no intention of interfering with the judiciary’s work and was committed to supporting its independence.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
