Hours after an elite police force known as the Hawks raided the villa of the Guptas, friends of President Jacob Zuma as part of an anti-corruption probe, South Africa’s ruling party the ANC unravel its plans on Wednesday to sack Zuma through a no-confidence vote in Parliament.
Since the African National Congress (ANC) upped the ante against Zuma, whose presidency and whole political life has been clouded by scandals, Jacob Zuma’s has proclaimed his innocence and portrayed himself as being ”victimized” by Nelson Mandela’s liberation movement within the party.
During an hour-long interview over state-broadcaster SABC, a composed President Zuma insists ”There’s nothing I’ve done wrong, I don’t think it’s fair. I think it’s unfair”.
Asked bluntly if he would step aside, he dodged the question but continued the allege the lack of principle by party hierarchy to remove him from office. He, however, did say he will, later on, Wednesday make a former statement. While declining to comment on the raids on his Gupta pals, marking a dramatic twist of events as his political ties around and him accused of misappropriating state resources for personal gains.
With the ANC supporting an opposition-led motion of no-confidence on Thursday, Zuma is running out of option after 9 years in office which has stagnated the South African economy and thrown the country in a series of political turmoil.
Jackson Mthembu, chief whip of the ANC said Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa who was elected head of the party last December could be sworn in as president as early as Friday. ”After we have voted for the removal of the President of the Republic tomorrow- and depending on the availability of the Chief Justice- we will also elect a new president”. He was speaking to reporters at a news conference in Cape Town.
Reported plans of Zuma addressing the country sparked confusion and chaos at the Union Buildings, the official seat of government in Pretoria but were later scrapped by the deputy director of communications at the presidency Shadi Baloyi.
The ANC gave Zuma an ultimatum on Tuesday to step down as president of the country, without any firm deadline for him to comply but were sure he was going to respond on Wednesday.
Neba Benson,
BaretaNews Foreign Correspondent/Analyst
