The Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg. (Ashraf Hendricks/GroundUp)
- The Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg has reserved judgment in the case involving Jacob Zuma, the MK Party and SABC.
- Zuma and the MK Party want the court to rule that the use of the term government of national unity (GNU) by the SABC is unconstitutional.
- In court papers, SABC group CEO Nomsa Chabeli said the broadcaster did not coin the term GNU.
The Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg has reserved judgment in Jacob Zuma and the MK Party’s bid to prohibit the SABC from using the term government of national unity (GNU).
On Monday, Judge Seena Yacoob postponed the case after the SABC filed its responding papers later that night, giving Zuma and the MK Party little time to respond.
Both parties filed their papers on Wednesday night and the case was set down for Thursday.
In their papers, Zuma and the MK Party said ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa announced the genesis of a GNU after a special national executive committee meeting on 6 June.
READ | ‘The SABC did not coin the term GNU’: State broadcaster hits back at MK Party, Zuma
“The characterisation of the ANC’s approach or response to the resolution of the hung Parliament impasse or conundrum, which it was facing for the first time at national level, was at best aspirational or overly optimistic and at worst deliberately misleading and opportunistic.
“Either way, it was deeply inaccurate, logically flawed, and/or politically bankrupt. In any event, it never materialised or rose to the heights of a GNU,” said the MK Party in its court papers.
Responding to Zuma, SABC group CEO Nomsa Chabeli argued the broadcaster did not coin the term GNU but rather used it after the ANC called it such.
“The SABC did not coin the term GNU but reports on it as it is being referred to by those who coined the term and those who support the term,” she said in court papers filed on Monday.