Mbeki takes jibe at Zuma

Pretoria - Former president, Thabo Mbeki, and retired Constitutional Court justice, Zak Yacoob, yesterday took a thinly veiled swipe at President Jacob Zuma and his administration during a panel discussion at an event to celebrate the adoption of the Constitution.

The panel was convened to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution in Parliament in 1996, and was hosted at Pretoria's Freedom Park. The park itself is a monument to South African conflict, opening in 2004.

Mbeki and Yacoob have both been vocal critics of Zuma and his current administration.

"As South Africans we signed a common contract to say this is the South Africa we want to build. It's an important day because it brought to an end a struggle that lasted centuries," Mbeki said.

He said that large portions of society remained unfamiliar with the Constitution, to the detriment of the country.

This was in an apparent veiled reference to the adverse finding of the Constitutional Court against President Jacob Zuma and the National Assembly.

The Constitutional Court ruled that Zuma flouted the Constitution when he ignored Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's remedial action on the non-security upgrades done at his private home in Nkandla. "A lot of our people aren't familiar with what this Constitution says. The consequence is that we sit in government and do something that's wrong and even unconstitutional, Mmusi [Maimane] will say it's incorrect and so will the judges [of the Constitutional Court], but where's the rest of society?" he questioned.

"If there was more familiarity with it, there would be a larger social intervention," Mbeki added.

Mbeki, asked directly to comment on his evaluation of the current political leadership, was restrained in his response. "What's clear to all of us is there's a lot of restlessness in the country and a lot of disaffection about the current situation," he said.

Yacoob emphasised that all were equal before the law, and he called for the hallmarks of the Constitution be realised. "Everyone's equal before the law … our Constitution says that neither the state nor anyone else shall discriminate on any grounds.

"We've a leader of a political party, not Mmusi [Maimane], that he goes to a white lawyer because he thinks white lawyers are better and everyone laughs. We discriminate against ourselves and we mustn't do this," he said.

Yacoob also seized his opportunity at the podium to make an apparent jibe at Zuma.

He referenced the rules of the African National Congress in making his point. "All members of the ANC are called to behave honestly and fundamentally, we need to have courage and behave honestly and ensure that others do so," he said.

Meanwhile, a new spokesperson for the Presidency has been appointed, Zuma's office announced yesterday. Bongani Ngqulunga, who is head of the president's private office, will now take on the role of spokesperson too.

"Ngqulunga will act as spokesperson to the president from today, May 8, 2016, until further notice," said the office in a statement.

Zuma's previous spokesperson, Bongani Majola, has been promoted to the position of chief director of communications, a post formerly occupied by Zanele Mngadi, who now serves as chief of staff in the environmental affairs ministry. According to a previous statement, Ngqulunga joined the Presidency in 2006. He also worked as acting chief of staff in the office of the director general, secretary of Cabinet in the Presidency between 2010 and 2011 and most recently, deputy director general.