Johannesburg - The Nelson Mandela Foundation has called for President Jacob Zuma to resign as he is not fit to govern.
The foundation said Zuma must go as he had abused the trust of South Africans and he must resign sooner rather than later.
“It is fourteen months since the Nelson Mandela Foundation first called for President Zuma to resign. We have now reached a point where South Africans can no longer wait for him to do so,” said the foundation in statement on Tuesday.
“President Zuma has abused the trust of South Africans. He must go, sooner rather than later. Time is of the essence. To delay now will lead to more of the ugly scenes of violent conflict we saw yesterday. We call for calm and respect for the rule of law during all protest actions related to the President.”
The foundation said the evidence of widespread looting and the numerous court cases and inquiries linked to Zuma have become too much to stomach.
The President has had a cloud hanging over his head since revelations were made about his links to the notorious Gupta family. Zuma is accused of giving his friends the allowance to have wide-ranging influence on the running of government and undue influence at State-Owned Enterprises.
Calls for Zuma’s resignation have been growing both from opposition parties and civil society.
This week as the State of the Nation Address (Sona) approaches, ANC top officials have been meeting with Zuma to discuss him stepping down. Zuma has apparently refused to resign.
The foundation said it was aware that Zuma’s removal would not signal the end of the corruption, but that it would be a first step to fixing issues faced by the country.
“It would be a mistake, of course, to think that the removal of one person will address what is now deep-rooted and systemic corruption. The challenge is to identify and uproot multiple networks at different levels,” said the foundation.