Johannesburg - No one in South Africa's ruling party is untouchable, including President Jacob Zuma, the party's secretary general said on Thursday in response to questions about allegations of interference in politics by Zuma's business friends.
The government was rocked on Wednesday by suggestions that a wealthy family with close ties to Zuma may have been behind his decision to sack the country's respected finance minister Nhlanhla Nene in December.
Read: Zuma hammered amid warnings of 'mafia state'
“He's not untouchable, he's the president,” Gwede Mantashe told Reuters.
“Why should we see this as a crisis instead of a positive? It will embolden people to come to the fore... so we can find the business people who are tampering within the ANC.”
Read: High-stakes drama as Zuma, reformers face off
Also on Thursday, Trade Minister Rob Davies described Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas as a man of honesty and integrity.
Meanwhile, the youth wing of the African National Congress said it would ask the party to remove Mcebisi Jonas from his post after his claim about the Guptas .
REUTERS