South African church leaders praise dismissal of deputy president

Published: 2005-06-15

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- Church officials have hailed South African President Thabo Mbeki's decision to fire his deputy, Jacob Zuma, who was implicated in the corruption conviction of his former financial adviser. "It is a sign of good governance that Mbeki has acted firmly and reasonably quickly," Mike Pothier of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference parliamentary liaison office told Catholic News Service. Zuma's former adviser, Schabir Shaik, was jailed for 15 years for fraud and corruption. The judge's early June ruling implicated the deputy president and said Zuma and Shaik's relationship was "generally corrupt." Mbeki told a June 14 special joint session of Parliament that he had concluded it would be "best to release Honorable Jacob Zuma from his responsibilities as deputy president of the republic and member of the Cabinet." The popular Zuma, 63, who has support from the country's largest labor union and the African National Congress' youth league, had ignored calls to resign, saying he had committed no crime and had not been tried in a court of law.

Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .