One of South Africa\u2019s most revered anti-apartheid activists dramatically intervened in the growing row over President Jacob Zuma\u2019s future by urging the country\u2019s embattled leader to step down.<\/p>\n
In a development described by analysts as potentially pivotal, Ahmed Kathrada, who was jailed alongside Nelson Mandela in 1964, called on Zuma to quit after the country\u2019s highest court ruled on Thursday that the leader had acted dishonestly over state spending on his private mansion.<\/p>\n
In a letter addressed to the president and published on Saturday, Kathrada said the scandal that has engulfed Zuma\u2019s seven-year presidency had reached the point where only his resignation would allow the government to recover from \u201ca crisis of confidence\u201d.<\/p>\n
Kathrada wrote: \u201cIn the face of such persistently widespread criticism, condemnation and demand, is it asking too much to express the hope that you will choose the correct way that is gaining momentum, to consider stepping down?\u201d<\/p>\n
This condemnation echoed calls for Zuma\u2019s resignation from opposition parties led by the Democratic Alliance, Economic Freedom Fighters, Inkatha Freedom party (IFP) and the United Democratic Movement (UDM), which stressed Zuma\u2019s failure to even apologise unreservedly to South Africans. UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said Zuma had given the country \u201cthe middle finger\u201d, and IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi dismissed Zuma\u2019s presidential address to the nation last Friday as \u201cobfuscation\u201d.<\/p>\n
The opposition has launched impeachment proceedings against Zuma, but these are unlikely to prove fruitful given the large majority the African National Congress (ANC) has in parliament, where it holds 249 out of 400 seats in the national assembly.<\/p>\n
Yet the response of the ANC itself to Zuma\u2019s reaction has become a focus of concern for many South Africans, exposing the divide between the \u201celder statesmen\u201d of the party, such as Kathrada, and its younger members. Last Friday, after the address, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said the president had \u201chumbled\u201d himself: \u201cWe are comfortable with the fact he has apologised.\u201d<\/p>\n But the intervention from 86-year-old Kathrada may carry considerable weight within the party, which has governed the country since apartheid ended in 1994. Mandela and Kathrada were among eight ANC activists sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of trying to overthrow the apartheid government during the 1963-1964 Rivonia trial.<\/p>\n![\"Ahmed](\"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/kathrada.jpg\")