Civil society groups have vowed to fight the removal of President Jacob Zuma from office and threatened to mobilise their members if the ruling party forces him to step down.
A number of organisations briefed the media in Marshalltown‚ Johannesburg‚ about their campaign to fight off plans to remove Zuma as the president of the country.
Among the organisations involved in the campaign is the Black First Land First and Unemployed People’s Trust.
Bafana Nzuza‚ chairman of the Unemployed People’s Trust‚ said people had been sold a lie of unity ahead of the ANC elective conference in December.
“We have been taken as fools and continue to be regarded as such. The statements and media pronouncements of the ANC lately suggest total disrespect of the people of South Africa. The ANC statements are focusing on the removal and arrest of the President Gedleyihlekisa Zuma by the new leadership. We categorically request that these type of media statements must be stopped.
“We demand the newly-elected leaders focus more on pressing issues such as strengthening the ANC and the implementation of the radical economic transformation policy‚ which included the expropriation of our stolen land without compensation. We are then‚ therefore‚ launching the ‘hands off Zuma’ campaign.
“More of our demands will be in the memorandum that we will deliver in the ANC headquarters‚ Luthuli House. We have already written to the secretary-general of the ANC [Ace Magashule]. We have addressed to him that we will be either marching or picketing to Luthuli House to give him a memorandum‚” Nzuza said.
Since Cyril Ramaphosa took over as the president of the ANC‚ there have been growing calls for Zuma to step down. The Sowetan reported on Friday that the ANC’s Top Six would hold a meeting with Zuma on Sunday‚ and‚ the publication reported‚ it is expected to ask Zuma to step down.
The meeting follows a recent ANC national working committee gathering where it was agreed that Zuma should not be allowed to address the nation at the official opening of Parliament next Thursday‚ the newspaper reported.
Nzuza warned the ANC against removing a sitting state president.
“In the memorandum that we will deliver to the secretary general of the ANC‚ we will make him aware that‚ come 2019‚ if all our demands are not met‚ we will call all our members not to vote for the ANC. If the ANC focuses on removing a sitting president‚ we will not vote for it [in 2019]‚” said Nzuza.
Other organisations involved in the campaign included one called National Taxi Alliance in KwaZulu-Natal‚ Radical Transformation Movement of Azania‚ Qina Mshayeli and the National Funeral Practitioners Association of SA.
Hands off Zuma‚ or else...
Civil society groups have vowed to fight the removal of President Jacob Zuma from office and threatened to mobilise their members if the ruling party forces him to step down.
A number of organisations briefed the media in Marshalltown‚ Johannesburg‚ about their campaign to fight off plans to remove Zuma as the president of the country.
Among the organisations involved in the campaign is the Black First Land First and Unemployed People’s Trust.
Bafana Nzuza‚ chairman of the Unemployed People’s Trust‚ said people had been sold a lie of unity ahead of the ANC elective conference in December.
“We have been taken as fools and continue to be regarded as such. The statements and media pronouncements of the ANC lately suggest total disrespect of the people of South Africa. The ANC statements are focusing on the removal and arrest of the President Gedleyihlekisa Zuma by the new leadership. We categorically request that these type of media statements must be stopped.
“We demand the newly-elected leaders focus more on pressing issues such as strengthening the ANC and the implementation of the radical economic transformation policy‚ which included the expropriation of our stolen land without compensation. We are then‚ therefore‚ launching the ‘hands off Zuma’ campaign.
“More of our demands will be in the memorandum that we will deliver in the ANC headquarters‚ Luthuli House. We have already written to the secretary-general of the ANC [Ace Magashule]. We have addressed to him that we will be either marching or picketing to Luthuli House to give him a memorandum‚” Nzuza said.
Since Cyril Ramaphosa took over as the president of the ANC‚ there have been growing calls for Zuma to step down. The Sowetan reported on Friday that the ANC’s Top Six would hold a meeting with Zuma on Sunday‚ and‚ the publication reported‚ it is expected to ask Zuma to step down.
The meeting follows a recent ANC national working committee gathering where it was agreed that Zuma should not be allowed to address the nation at the official opening of Parliament next Thursday‚ the newspaper reported.
Nzuza warned the ANC against removing a sitting state president.
“In the memorandum that we will deliver to the secretary general of the ANC‚ we will make him aware that‚ come 2019‚ if all our demands are not met‚ we will call all our members not to vote for the ANC. If the ANC focuses on removing a sitting president‚ we will not vote for it [in 2019]‚” said Nzuza.
Other organisations involved in the campaign included one called National Taxi Alliance in KwaZulu-Natal‚ Radical Transformation Movement of Azania‚ Qina Mshayeli and the National Funeral Practitioners Association of SA.