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ANC veterans, the country’s two top Covid-19 scientists, the SACP, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, business leaders, churches, and leading civil society organizations have come together to form a Defend Our Democracy front to resist attacks against the Constitution and the judiciary. especially by former President Jacob Zuma.
Several organizations and individuals have signed a statement of support for the recently launched Defend Our Democracy action program, which is similar to the Save SA campaign organized at the height of the State Capture.
In two releases this week, ANC veterans like Murphy Morobe, Mavuso Msimang and Cheryl Carolus pledged to support, while Morobe called for a new political system. The campaign is not partisan.
Mmusi Maimane of the One South Africa Movement is part of it, as is Mojanku Gumbi, a former adviser to former President Thabo Mbeki and a veteran of the Pan-Africanist Congress.
Professors Salim Abdool-Karim and Glenda Gray were present, one each day, to support the initiative. SACP Secretary General Solly Mapaila, one of the first people to coin the term “State Capture,” lamented what he called a “descent into chaos.”
The South African Council of Churches (Sacc) has spoken out against attempts to destabilize South Africa and sees the Defend Our Democracy campaign as a continuation of that work.
A statement read by former ambassador Sheila Sisulu does not pull her punches.
“Recently, a former president of our country, once described in a Constitutional Court ruling as the personification of the ‘constitutional being’ of the republic, challenged an order from the same court. This staggering defiance by a former head of state not only violates the law but also attacks the Constitution itself. “
He says South Africans are still subject to “large-scale unrestricted looting, which has destabilized the state and brought the economy to the brink of collapse.” And he says that those named in the State Capture investigations or accused of corruption have formed a cartel to defend themselves.
This has become a movement with Zuma at the forefront.
“Disparate parties directly involved in the State Capture project have been recruited to amplify the former president’s illegal challenge to the Constitutional Court. The deployment of personnel in camouflage from the army in the role of a private militia, whose very existence offends the letter and spirit of our democracy, is an ominous dimension of this unconstitutional conduct, ”the statement said.
The campaign is likely to become the counterpoint to protests outside of important Zondo Investigative Commission hearings on state capture or major anti-corruption lawsuits. DM
Defend our democracy – Fine …
