S. African Parliament pledges to comply with court ruling over Zuma

CAPE TOWN, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's Parliament pledged on Friday to comply with a Constitutional Court ruling ordering it to hold President Jacob Zuma accountable for alleged wrongdoing.

"Parliament respects the majority judgment and will comply fully with it," said a parliamentary statement.

Under a majority judgment meted out earlier in the day by the court, the National Assembly should hold the president to account "without delay" regarding the Nkandla scandal, in which Zuma was accused of abusing public funding worth 246 million rand (about 20 million U.S. dollars) in security upgrades at his private home in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal Province.

Parliament had failed to make rules surrounding the removal of Zuma and should attend to this matter, the court said.

The court held the National Assembly collectively responsible for not meaningfully implementing section 89 of the Constitution.

Justice Chris Jafta said in the ruling that the National Assembly had failed to determine whether the president had breached section 89 of the Constitution.

Section 89 of the Constitution deals with the removal of the president on the grounds of a serious violation of the Constitution or the law, serious misconduct, or inability to perform the functions of office.

"The court has thus ordered that the Rules of the Assembly be amended without delay to comply with section 237 of the Constitution, which instructs that all Constitutional obligations be performed diligently and without delay," Jafta said.

Several opposition parties -- the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and Congress of the People (COPE)-- brought the matter to the court, seeking an order to institute impeachment proceedings against Zuma.

The parliamentary statement said Parliament's Rules Committee has already initiated a process to outline a procedure to be followed in implementing section 89 of the Constitution.

"In this regard, Parliament will ensure finalization of the Assembly's rules, in line with the court's order," said the statement.

In a related development, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) said it will study the judgment and discuss its full implications when the ANC National Executive Committee meets on January 10, 2018. Enditem