{"id":260969,"date":"2016-10-23T16:37:25","date_gmt":"2016-10-23T16:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=260969"},"modified":"2016-10-23T16:37:25","modified_gmt":"2016-10-23T16:37:25","slug":"south-africa-anc-chief-whip-urges-jacob-zuma-to-quit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/10\/south-africa-anc-chief-whip-urges-jacob-zuma-to-quit\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa: ANC chief whip urges Jacob Zuma to quit"},"content":{"rendered":"
The chief whip of South Africa’s governing political party has called on its entire leadership – including President Jacob Zuma – to step down.<\/p>\n
Jackson Mthembu said fraud charges against the finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, were politically motivated.<\/p>\n
He said the current government was worse than the apartheid state.<\/p>\n
The ANC, which liberated South Africa from white minority rule in 1994, suffered its worst ever electoral performance in August.<\/p>\n
Mr Mthembu said he excluded no-one in the leadership from his call for resignations – not even himself.<\/p>\n
“President Jacob Zuma is the president of the ANC (African National Congress),” he told ENCA television.<\/p>\n
“When I said the entire ANC leadership that has already taken collective responsibility must take the fall, I meant everybody, myself included, including President Zuma.”<\/p>\n
Quizzed by local journalists on the comparison to the apartheid state, he said it had also used “state instruments” to suppress the people.<\/p>\n
However, he said even the apartheid regime “never pursued its own ministers”.<\/p>\n
“Perhaps we are not the leadership that can take the ANC forward under these conditions,” he said.<\/p>\n