You could not ignore the eerie parallels: a head of state was subjected to a scathing judgment by a constitutional court over failure to honour the highest law of the land. But there was one big difference between what happened to South Korean president Park Geun-hye and our very own President Jacob Zuma. The South Korean court went all the way and booted her out of office while SA’s court left this decision to the ruling political party and parliament. So Zuma survived and Park Geun-hye walked the plank. The outcomes aside, there are more striking parallels between the judgments. According to Reuters, South Korea’s acting chief judge Lee Jung-mi said Park violated the constitution and ignored parliament and the press; concealed the truth and cracked down on critics. The blunt conclusion was: her removal from office "is overwhelmingly to the benefit of the protection of the constitution ... We remove President Park Geun-hye from office."

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