Cape Town - "I have done nothing wrong, " President Jacob Zuma said in an exclusive interview with the SABC on Wednesday.
"No one has told me what I have done wrong. No one has been able to furnish what I've done. If I've done something wrong, there are processes within the ANC. I found it very unfair to me that this issue must be raised all the time," Zuma said.
The president was responding to the ANC NEC's decision to recall him if he did not resign by midnight on Wednesday.
The ANC had earlier on Wednesday set out the timeline to remove Zuma as president with a motion of no confidence set down for Parliament on Thursday.
In the interview Zuma said he had not had the opportunity to say anything in the past few days.
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"That's why I ask now what have I done? I have never been provided a reason. Now I am being told to go by my own organisation when they are not following any policy."
Zuma says he felt that the call to resign was unfair.
He said some of the ANC leaders had been saying: “We don’t need two centres of power.”
“I found it very strange that I was told: ‘You now must go because we have a new president coming’. That’s not ANC policy.”
Zuma says he agreed to meet ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa last week to hold discussions to ease tensions within the party.
He said he proposed to ANC officials that he could resign after June.
Zuma said his proposed time-frame for his resignation was meant to create certainty and unity.
He said he had hoped to host the Brics conference mid-year and to introduce Ramaphosa to other leaders.
Zuma said there are no facts on why he should resign.
He said he is open to further discussion but the ANC is rushing.
"I told them that if they want to recall they should recall. People say I am defiant, I am not. I disagree with the decision. This is being done in a manner that I feel victimised.
“I think we are being plunged into a crisis that my comrades might regret.”
Zuma said he would release a statement later on Wednesday.
The ANC has responded to Zuma's interview, saying it noted his response and would await his statement.
"President Zuma has affirmed that he has not defied the ANC however does not agree with the decision. In addition, Zuma committed to deliver a statement in response to this decision later today.
"The ANC will await delivery of this response by President Zuma."