S’Africa opposition files graft charges against Zuma

South African President Jacob Zuma

South Africa’s main opposition party laid criminal charges against President Jacob Zuma on Thursday, accusing him of “flagrant abuse” of public money over $23 million in upgrades to his home that included a swimming pool and a cattle enclosure.

The Democratic Alliance filed eight charges of corruption against Zuma at a police station near his Nkandla homestead, a party spokeswoman told Reuter.

The sprawling compound in rural KwaZulu-Natal province has become a growing headache for Zuma and his ruling ANC just six weeks before an election.

South Africa’s corruption watchdog on Wednesday said Zuma benefitted “unduly” from the state-funded security upgrades, accusing him of conduct “inconsistent with his office”. It said he should pay for some of the unnecessary buildings, which also included an amphitheatre and a chicken run.

The findings from Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s two-year investigation are widely seen as damaging for scandal-plagued Zuma and may harm his ruling African National Congress (ANC) in the May 7 polls, although the party, which has ruled since the end of apartheid in 1994, is still expected to win.

Under South African law, an individual or an institution can lay criminal charges through a legal filing. The DA submission was expected to go the National Prosecuting Authority, which would decide whether there was a formal case to answer.

The charges were filed a day after the DA said it planned to start impeachment proceedings against Zuma in parliament.

Impeachment is the correct course of action for this flagrant abuse of public money,” Lindiwe Mazibuko, the opposition’s leader in the assembly, said in a statement.

But given the ANC’s two-thirds majority in parliament, the move to impeach Zuma is certain to fail. Nor is it likely to be a game-changer for the DA in the elections, as many blacks see the party as representing privileged whites.

Still, Madonsela’s report reinforces the perception among many South Africans that Zuma and senior members of the ANC have grown rich as millions remain mired in poverty. While the ruling party leapt to Zuma’s defense on Thursday, it admitted the scandal could be damaging with the elections looming.

“Let’s accept that it is a concern, because anything that is bringing negative publicity to the ANC is a source of concern,” ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe told a news conference.”