Row over elite guards for S. African leader's ex-wife

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG (AA) - A South African opposition party on Sunday laid criminal charges against the country’s police minister for assigning presidential guards to the ex-wife of President Jacob Zuma.

Dennis Bloem, spokesman for the Congress of the People (Cope), told Anadolu Agency it was wrong for the police to allocate Presidential Protection Unit (PPU) officers to guard a civilian.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is a former African Union Commission head.

Bloem said: “Dlamini-Zuma has never been a president. She is a civilian. The Presidential Protection Unit is supposed to protect former presidents, the current one and visiting heads of state.”

The Cope spokesman said his party laid a charge of abuse of office against Police Minister Fikile Mbalula.

He said providing presidential security to a former AU commission chairperson is an abuse of tax payer’s money and a criminal offence on the part of the minister.

Police spokesperson Sally de Beer told local media Sunday that due to security reasons the police could not discuss details of security given to the former AU boss.

Other sources claimed Dlamini-Zuma had been threatened by some political opponents, hence the security allocated to her.

Last week, she was seen being guarded by PPU officers at a meeting of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in the Free State province.

Dlamini-Zuma, 67, ended her term as chair of the African Union Commission earlier this year. The former anti-apartheid activist previously served in various cabinet posts.

She is currently being supported by President Zuma; the ANC women’s league, its youth wing and other groups to take over as next ANC leader.

The ruling party will hold a conference later this year to elect its leaders. If Dlamini-Zuma wins, she will almost certainly become South Africa’s next president since the ANC still enjoys majority support in the country.

Some commentators have, however, criticized Zuma, saying he is backing his ex-wife because she would protect him from the many criminal cases he may face after stepping down as the country’s president in 2019, after two terms in office.

“Zuma faces over 700 cases and it’s highly likely that he may be found guilty. I believe that’s why he has to back people close to him,” Andre Duvenhage, a political science professor at North-West University, told Anadolu Agency in a recent interview.