Supporters and detractors of
South African President Jacob Zuma on Monday protested outside the ruling party
headquarters in Johannesburg on Monday as the embattled leader was reportedly
refusing to step down.
Scandal-plagued Zuma has been
under increasing pressure to leave office before his term finishes in 2019 but
reportedly dug in his heels during talks with African National Congress (ANC)
top brass Sunday night.
ANC leaders are holding another
emergency meeting Monday, local media said.
South Africa’s opposition parties
and factions in the ANC say Zuma should not be allowed to give the annual state
of the nation address on Thursday, calling him a lame duck president since the
election of reformer Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC leader.
Zuma’s nearly two terms in office
have been blighted by hundreds of corruption allegations, but he has so far
managed to dodge prosecution.
Radical political party Black
First Land First have organized a protest in support of the president under the
banner “#HandsOff Zuma.” But another group of ANC supporters had gathered with
signs reading “Zuma must fall.”
Former ANC youth leader turned
founder of the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters, Julius Malema, tweeted
late Sunday after Zuma’s meeting with the ANC top brass that the president was
refusing to go.
“He refused to resign and he told
them to take a decision to remove him if they so wish to do so because he
didn’t do anything wrong to the country,” Malema said.
South Africa’s parliament is
scheduled to vote in a no-confidence motion against Zuma on Feb. 22.
Several such motions have failed
in the past. (dpa/NAN)
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