7 hours ago
Zuma takes fight to Supreme Court over SABC's use of ‘GNU' term
Former president Jacob Zuma appeals a court ruling that dismissed his challenge to prohibit the SABC from using the term GNU
He argues that the current status quo is in the coalition between the ANC and DA.
He wants to take the matter to the SCA, argues that there are reasonable grounds for a review.
Former President Jacob Zuma has filed a notice of leave to appeal a court ruling dismissing his bid to invalidate the SABC's use of the term government of national unity (GNU)
The Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) leader filed his intention to appeal on 19 May, seeking to set aside the judgement that was granted in favour of the public broadcaster in January.
In the document that was filed at the Johannesburg High Court, Zuma seeks to approach the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) after the ruling found that there was no legal framework for him and his party to contend that the SABC should be prohibited from using the term.
However, in his intention to appeal, Zuma cites that there are reasonable grounds that the SCA would reach a different outcome.
We note that there are reasonable prospects for the Supreme Court of Appeal to find differently from this court [Johannesburg High Court], and, as envisaged, we consider that there are other compelling reasons for the appeal to be granted.
Court papers
Zuma also cites that the judgment contained errors that could be corrected by a higher court.
'The application for leave to appeal primarily focuses on our contention that the judgment contains errors of reasoning in various aspects,' the court papers read.
In the papers, the former ANC president also highlights that the MKP wants to demonstrate reasonable factors of constitutional violations in the public broadcaster's usage of the term GNU.
'It is incumbent upon us to demonstrate the existence of a bona fide constitutional question; they have failed to do so in the SABC's affidavit. Instead, they have raised a political question or debate about the meaning of the GNU, when such a government was formed, how it is formed, and whether the current South African government is a government of national unity, all of which we seek to dispute,' the court papers read.
In the initial application filed in July last year, Zuma argued that the SABC, as a public institution, has a unique responsibility and cannot peddle false, inaccurate, and politically biased narratives to describe the current political arrangement.
He previously indicated that the seventh administration constitutes a grand coalition between the DA and the ANC.
In court, when the arguments from the two parties were heard by the same court in January, MKP's lawyer, Dali Mpofu, argued that a requirement for a GNU is that parties represent 85% to 90% of the electorate to form part of the government.
Mpofu said two major parties representing approximately 25% of the electorate—the MKP and the EFF—were excluded as a pre-condition by the DA.
'This is because the GNU brings all political parties together, which would have to include the EFF and the MKP, which it did not. These parties were excluded.
'But it still gave the president the fig leaf he needed to bring in all sorts of smaller parties. The truth is that we are actually in a coalition because the coalition says if a party withdraws from it, the government fails,' he said.
