The scandal is arguably the biggest yet to hit Zuma, who has fended
off accusations of corruption, influence peddling and rape since before
he took office in 2009.
South
Africa's President Jacob Zuma answers questions at Parliament in Cape
Town, in this picture taken March 17, 2016. South Africa's parliament will debate on Tuesday a motion to impeach President Jacob Zuma, National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete said, after a top court ruled the president had violated the constitution.
South
Africa's constitutional court ruled on Thursday that Zuma had failed to
uphold the constitution by ignoring orders from the public protector
that he repay some of the $16 million in state funds spent to renovate
his private residence at Nkandla.
Since Thursday's
ruling, opposition party leaders, ordinary South Africans and even an
anti-apartheid activist jailed alongside Nelson Mandela have called on
Zuma to step down.
Mmusi Maimane,
leader of the opposition party Democratic Alliance (DA), tabled the
motion to have Zuma impeached, and Mbete told reporters on Sunday "the
debate on that motion has been scheduled for Tuesday afternoon."
The
Africa National Congress majority in parliament will almost certainly
give Zuma political cover against the attempt to impeach him. But the
judicial rebuke may embolden anti-Zuma factions within the ruling party
to mount a challenge.
The unanimous ruling by the
11-judge constitutional court also criticised parliament for passing a
resolution that purported to nullify Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's findings on the state spending on Zuma's private residence.
DA Parliamentary Chief Whip John Steenhuisen said on Sunday that Mbete should also resign for her and parliament's complicity in the Nkandla matter.
Mbete said she would not step down, but acknowledged the issue could have been handled differently in parliament.
The
scandal is arguably the biggest yet to hit Zuma, who has fended off
accusations of corruption, influence peddling and rape since before he
took office in 2009.
On Friday, the 73-year-old
president gave a televised address to the nation in which he apologised
and said he would pay back some of the money, as ordered. He said that
he never knowingly or deliberately set out to violate the constitution.
The
president travelled to his home province of Kwazulu-Natal on Sunday to
launch a relief programme as part of government efforts to support areas
affected by South Africa's worst drought in more than a century.
He
told a cheering crowd that he was still South Africa's leader and joked
about how youthful he was, but made no specific mention of the Nkandla
matter, the pending impeachment motion or calls for him to step down as
he addressed the gathering in Zulu, his native language.
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