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South Africa: Protestors demand Zuma resignation
Angry South Africans have come out in their thousands to demand President Jacob Zuma’s resignation.
Protesters in 3 of South Africa’s largest cities demanded President Jacob Zuma resign a week after his firing of the country’s finance minister precipitated a rout in financial markets. South Africans have been angered by the president’s appointments in the Finance ministry that triggered economic turmoil.
Thousands joined demonstrations organized by the Unite Against Corruption lobby group in Johannesburg and Cape Town, the largest cities, while a third demonstration commenced at Zuma’s offices in Pretoria, the capital, on a bank holiday in South Africa.
Unite Against Corruption “is demanding that #zumamustfall because he has broken trust with the nation, that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party and business set clear targets and action plans against corruption,” the group said in an e-mailed statement on Wednesday.
The replacement of former Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene with a little-known lawmaker, David van Rooyen, on December 9 sent the rand to a record low and bond yields jumped to a 7-year high. Following the market rout, Zuma removed van Rooyen and replaced him with Pravin Gordhan, who served as finance minister for 5 years from 2009.
Zuma’s “colorful private life” and the frequent public scandals surrounding him have drawn the ire of senior ANC members before.
His refusal to accept any responsibility for 215 million rand (US$14 million) of public money spent on a makeover for his private rural home drew rebuke from within his party.
“President Jacob Zuma has demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that he does not have what it takes to be the leader of a sophisticated society and economy,” Zwelinzima Vavi, a former general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), an alliance partner of the ANC, said at the demonstration held in Johannesburg. “Corruption is threatening to destroy our future.” Vavi was expelled from the labor federation in March.
Some political parties such as the Economic Freedom Fighters criticized the #zumamustfall movement for only representing the interests of the middle class in a country where economic disparities among blacks and whites persist more than 21 years after apartheid ended.
