MK takes Ramaphosa to court

Jacob Zuma's legal team is challenging his successor's handling of the suspension of the police minister, Senzo Mchunu

- Mandisa Nyathi

The legal team of former president Jacob Zuma and his uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party took aim at his successor Cyril Ramaphosa in the constitutional court this week, accusing him of double standards in dealing with ministers implicated in corruption or other wrongdoing.

After Wednesday’s arguments, the apex court dismissed the party's application for direct access to it, ruling that the matter did not fall within its exclusive jurisdiction.

The party had gone to the court to contest Ramaphosa’s placing of Police Minister Senzo Mchunu on special leave of absence, his appointment of Firoz Cachalia as acting minister and the establishment of an inquiry, chaired by acting deputy chief justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, to investigate allegations against Mchunu by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi last month.

During the hearing on Wednesday, Zuma’s legal team argued that Ramaphosa’s claims of upholding due process in handling the matter were undermined by his own track record of shielding ministers who had been found by the Zondo inquiry into state capture to have a prima facie case of criminality against them.

Advocate Dali Mpofu, representing Zuma, said the president's explanation that he was waiting for the outcome of the Madlanga inquiry before acting against Mchunu was consistent with his continued retention and promotion of ministers who were also implicated in serious wrongdoing by the commission of inquiry into state capture.

"There’s no South African, nobody who lives in this country, who can believe that story," Mpofu said.

He argued that the president was weaponising executive discretion to sideline political opponents while protecting allies, saying Mchunu's suspension, rather than an outright firing given the gravity of Mkhwanazi’s allegations, demonstrated a selective and politically expedient approach to accountability.