Johannesburg - Congress of the People (Cope) leader Mosiuoa Lekota's call for the impeachment of President Jacob Zuma was “disingenuous”, the ANC said on Wednesday.
“His statement is consistent with his personal hatred for President Zuma,” ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said in a statement.
Mthembu called Cope an anti-Zuma party with no political programme.
Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota told MPs on Tuesday that the president's office had, on Friday, “defied an order, by the Supreme Court of Appeal, to hand over the abbreviated transcripts of the tapes that permitted criminal charges to be dropped or withdrawn against himself”.
He was referring to the refusal to release transcripts of the secret recordings which were the basis of the decision to drop corruption, fraud and racketeering charges against Zuma in early 2009.
Lekota called for impeachment procedures to be instituted against Zuma for his defying a lawful judicial order.
Mthembu said: “The ANC believes that the matter of the handover of tapes is a matter within the jurisdiction of the National Prosecution Authority and not the president.” - Sapa