Columnist
South African politics seem stuck in a loop over the past decade: two presidential scandals, two Constitutional Court rebukes of parliament for unconstitutional conduct and the same performative politics.
When the Constitutional Court ruled that the National Assembly acted “inconsistent with the constitution” in the saga of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s dollar-stuffed sofa cushions on his private Phala Phala game farm, it echoed the late March 2016 finding that the national legislature acted “inconsistent with the constitution” in the scandal over the taxpayer-funded upgrades at former president Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead.
Like his predecessor, Ramaphosa has turned to the courts. It’s the same playbook, repackaged in a business suit rather than a populist “100% Zulu” T-shirt.
“I will not resign,“ Ramaphosa said in Monday evening’s televised address, highlighting “nothing in the Constitutional Court judgment compels me to resign my office”, adding that resigning would “give credence to a panel report that unfortunately has grave flaws”.
