The National Assembly has a duty to hold President Jacob Zuma to account, but had failed to do so, the Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday.

Wim Trengove, for the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), said the members of the National Assembly “second guessed” Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report on Zuma’s Nkandla homestead.

“We must note that only the National Assembly has a duty to call the president to account and no one else. They overruled the Public Protector and failed to hold the president to account,” Trengove told the court.

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng asked him if the National Assembly had misinterpreted Madonsela’s report.

“Was this a question of interpretation? Was it based on lack of understanding of the powers of the Public Protector or a deliberate defiance?,” asked Mogoeng.

The National Assembly was wrong in law, Trengove replied.

“They were desperate and wrong in law and as a result did not perform their constitutional duties.”

“The first thing was to call the president to account and they didn’t do that. They second guessed the report… and they decided she was wrong.”

The EFF’s case did not rely on proving bad faith on the part of the National Assembly, but on the failure to uphold constitution, said Trengove.