Thousands call for South Africa’s Zuma to step down

Thousands of marchers demanded President Jacob Zuma step down in rallies across South Africa on Wednesday, blaming him for a week of financial turmoil triggered by his sacking of the finance minister.

Crowds answered appeals on social media to gather in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth on the eastern coastline, carrying posters reading “Save South Africa” and “Recall Zumanow”.

Zuma appointed David van Rooyen, a former mayor, to replace the widely respected Nhlanhla Nene last Wednesday, a move that caused a selling frenzy in the rand, bonds and stock market.

He then changed his mind late on Sunday and reappointed former finance minister Pravin Gordhan to the post he held from 2009 to 2014.

“We’ve seen South Africans becoming increasingly disenchanted and disillusioned with President Zuma, citing poor leadership, corruption, an increase in unemployment and poverty during his rule, as well as billions of rand in fruitless and wasteful expenditure,” FRANCE 24’s Ayesha Ismail reported from Cape Town. “So today people took to the streets under the banner united against corruption.”

Protesters chanted “Zuma must fall” as they gathered at the Nelson Mandela Bridge in Johannesburg.

“The people in the (ruling) ANC are sharing the money, that’s why they haven’t recalled him,” said Thembani Nyandeni, a 28-year-old protester who told Reuters he had been unemployed for the past four years.

There was no immediate government response to the marches. But senior leaders in the ANC have rejected other calls for Zuma to be replaced. Addressing a government event in Port Elizabeth planned to mark a public holiday, Zuma steered clear of the row.

He said South Africans, mostly the black majority, had made strides since the fall of apartheid in 1994 but acknowledged that black businesses could play a greater role in the economy.

Adding to the government’s woes, Moody’s Investors Service cut its outlook on South Africa to “negative” from “stable” late on Tuesday, citing structural challenges in the country’s mining industry and increasing political pressures.