SOUTH AFRICA: Khoisan leader file criminal case against President Jacob Zuma

Charges laid against the president include corruption, fraud and defeating the ends of justice.

South African President Jacob Zuma answers questions in Parliament on March 17, 2016. His nephew Clive Khulubuse Zuma and Mr John Addo Kufuor, son of Ghana’s former President John Agyekum Kufuor were among African figures named in the Panama Papers trove of leaked tax documents. PHOTO | AFP 

PRETORIA,

The leader of South Africa’s Khoisan people, Stanley Petersen, has opened a criminal case against President Jacob Zuma, piling more pressure on the embattled head.

Charges laid against the president include corruption, fraud and defeating the ends of justice.

This follows last week’s constitutional court ruling on the expenses incurred on President Zuma’s Nkandla home in KwaZulu Natal province.

The court found that the president used $20 million public money to refurbish his house illegally.

He was ordered to pay part of the huge amount.

The new cases come when the civil society is planning demonstrations countrywide aimed at ousting the president. 

The South African leader survived a third impeachment bid in six months only last week.

The campaign, dubbed ‘The South Africa We Demand’, is also supported by prominent religious, political and business leaders, trade unions and community-based organisations.

Petersen, who leads the Khoisan Revolution, a new political party for the San community, said members and other South Africans could not stand by and watch while public funds and money meant for development was squandered.

“As a member of the Khoisan council, I was a guest in parliament when the president was delivering the speech,” Petersen said.

“I was sitting in the gallery and the president was telling the nation that his family paid for the upgrading of the Nkandla home. Everybody knows that was a lie.”

He added that the constitutional court findings showed that the South African leader lied under oath.

“He didn’t abide with the constitution as the President of the country. There are unpaid land claims that have been lingering for years yet the president is undermining the country’s constitution by wasting money, taxpayers money,” Petersaen added.

Top ruling African National Congress officials have thrown their weight behind groups asking President Zuma to leave office. 

ANC has repeatedly defended the president , saying there was no basis for resigning despite the Nkandla saga and court ruling.

Daily Nation