Skip to main content

Zuma vows not to resign; faces another no-confidence vote in parliament

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma gestures during a media briefing with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (not pictured) at the Union Building in Pretoria November 26, 2014. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko (SOUTH AFRICA - Tags: POLITICS)
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) would on Thursday initiate a no-confidence motion against President Jacob Zuma at the parliament, local media reports said Wednesday.
The decision came as Mr. Zuma refuses to stand down even after police raided homes of his associates, the Gupta family, in Johannesburg, the country’s commercial capital.
The Guptas, who have been named in a series of corruption probes, are said to be associates of Mr. Zuma, who has led South Africa since 2009.
Some members of the ANC have long asked Mr. Zuma to step down, and the party itself formally took a position on the matter by asking Mr. Zuma to resign.
The party’s Treasurer-General, Paul Mashatile, said on Wednesday that the party is starting “a new era.”
“The conference of ANC has created new hope. Our people want to see change. We want to go with renewal,” Mr. Mashatile said.
He added that the deadline given to Mr. Zuma would expire on Wednesday night.
If Mr. Zuma resigns, the cabinet would stay, Mr. Mashatile said, but should he be removed via a no-confidence vote, the entire cabinet would have to be removed, the ANC treasurer-general added.
Mr. Zuma appeared live on SABC a moment ago to discuss the allegations against him. He denied allegations of wrongdoing and vowed not to resign.
He demanded that he should be told whatever his offences might be and he would take a decision on his future accordingly.
“No, I will not resign,” he said.
The ANC said the parliament could elect another president as soon as Thursday if Mr. Zuma agrees to step down.
Thursday’s no-confidence votes is coming barely six months after Mr. Zuma survived the ninth attempt to remove him from office.
Out of the total 384 parliamentarians that voted in the August 8, 2017 no-confidence motion, about 177 expressed no confidence in Mr. Zuma.
More than half of the voters, 198, opposed the motion while nine lawmakers abstained. The voting shows that the anti-Zuma coalition got some ANC votes but not enough to get a majority to remove the president.
If the Thursday’s motion goes on as planned, it would be the ninth no-confidence votes in Mr. Zuma’s less than nine years in office.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Inside Lamidi Adedibu’s deserted Ibadan ‘palace’, crumbling political dynasty

February 10, 2018 Adedibu's 'palace' (Photo taken by Oladeinde Olawoyin) A one-storey mosque stood adjacent the main building that was Lamidi Adedibu’s main building. There, he held sway as an oracle and dished out orders that were considered laws at a time in Ibadan and other parts of Oyo State. Time was 3:45 p.m. and this reporter just swaggered into the ‘Molete Palace’ of the late Ibadan politician and stalwart of the then ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party. The afternoon sun baked the skin with fiendish delight. At the entrance of the commodious ‘palace’, about five weird-looking middle-aged men sat on a bench, leaving the gate ajar. A banner displaying Mr. Adedibu’s image occupies a part of the gate, swinging slowly to the rhythm of the afternoon wind. Easily noticeable was a narrow, tarred, deserted road that connects the entire ‘palace’ with the major road linking Molete and Oke-Ado. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

250 Nigerians die of snakebite in three weeks

November 5, 2017 Agency Report Snake used to illustrate the story. Two hundred and fifty victims of snake bite have died in the last three weeks in Plateau and Gombe states, following an acute scarcity of snake anti-venom drugs in the country. The figure represents the number of confirmed deaths from three snake treatment centres – General Hospital, Kaltungo, Ali Mega Pharmacy, Gombe and Comprehensive Medical Centre, Zamko, Plateau State. A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria who visited the three medical outfits, met other victims in critical situations, with some of them left on bare floors as the doctors said they were helpless without the anti-venom. NAN reports that the snake anti-venom drugs – Echitab Plus ICP polyvalent and Echitab G monovalent – had not been supplied to the country since August, throwing the treatment centres into crisis after the last vials were used up in the firs...
Post a Comment
Read more

INTERVIEW: Don’t believe anything from Nigerian Senate — El-Rufai

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai On his mission to the villa? A: I came to see Mr President to brief him on the general security situation in Kaduna, which I do from time to time and also to update him on the various initiatives by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the SSS, and the Army with a view to improving the security situation in Kaduna in general and particularly along the Abuja-Kaduna road. I want to say that the initiatives put in place have made the road quite safe now. I don’t want to go into details of the measures that have already been put in place, but I am confident with the security system in place now that people can be confident to drive on the Abuja-Kaduna road without any fear. On APC leader, Bola Tinubu A: There is no dispute between me and anyone in the APC. The APC is one family, I don’t dispute with my own party. They may dispute with me but I don’t. I made comments in Lagos about how to retire godfathers, it’...
Post a Comment
Read more