Zuma must explain to us why he should not resign, says Pityana

2 November 2016

Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma must explain to the country why he should still stay in his position following recent developments in the country, says Anglogold Ashanti chairperson Sipho Pityana.

"We are at a point where we have to come to terms with the fact that for as long as we have President Zuma as a president of the country, it is not possible to change the situation around," Pityana said on Wednesday.

Pityana was speaking to reporters ahead of a people’s assembly hosted by civil organisation Save South Africa in Pretoria. Pityana is one of the organisation’s founders.

"We’ve written to the president, we have asked for a meeting with him, we’ve told him that we believe that he is no longer worthy to lead this country.

"It is not possible for a leader to sit with a finding of the Constitutional Court that is so damning about his leadership and about his allowing... state resources to be used for his personal gain, for the benefit of his family and breaching the oath of office," Pityana said.

He said, despite all this, Zuma was continuing to run the country as though nothing had happened. This was why the country was gradually falling into a situation where the topic of state capture was on the top of everyone’s mind.

"It is going to happen: At the heart of the problem, you have a leader without integrity, who is without honour, who is not committed in serving the interests of this country.

"We have asked the president that we should have that discussion, and we believe that as citizens of this country, he should hear us and explain to us why he shouldn’t resign."

This article first appeared on News24, see here.