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While the country is held hostage, the ANC President, Cyril Ramaphosa, is reportedly negotiating with the man faced with 783 counts of corruption, fraud, money-laundering and racketeering, who was at the heart of the Nkandla scandal which saw R246 million of taxpayer’s money used to upgrade his private residence and who seemingly facilitated State Capture and opened the public purse to the likes of the Gupta brothers.

It is not a stretch to say that the heart of these negotiations centre around granting Zuma immunity.

To do so would be the most corrupt act imaginable and would demolish a cornerstone of our democracy, the rule of law.

Should Ramaphosa choose to offer or purport to grant Zuma immunity from prosecution, the DA will not hesitate to go to court. We cannot condone or allow Zuma to escape accountability for breaking his oath of office and putting his friends and family above the best interests of the people of South Africa.

It is incomprehensible that immunity would even be considered given the devastating impact Zuma’s presidency has had on the country. It also shows that the ANC under Ramaphosa is the very same ANC it was under Zuma.

The DA has fought long and hard to hold Zuma to account. We fought for close to a decade and eventually succeeded in ensuring that Zuma gets his day in court to face the 783 counts against him.  The process now is straightforward, the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Shaun Abrahams, must set a trial date and Zuma must have his day in court.

We also fought to ensure that he paid back the money for the upgrades to his private residence in Nkandla.

We have now received confirmation from the Deputy Chief Justice, Raymond Zondo, accepting our request to make submissions to the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture. All that remains for the Commission to get to work is for Zuma to sign and gazette the regulations on the Terms of Reference.

Zuma cannot be allowed to run and hide. He must be held accountable and the DA will make sure of this if Ramaphosa and the ANC will not.

Issued by DA