Sipho Pityana challenges the ANC to recall President Zuma

Sipho Pityana‚ the businessman leading the Save SA campaign‚ has challenged African National Congress to recall its president‚ Jacob Zuma‚ from office.

"To the ANC we must ask‚ you have the power to remove Zuma‚ You know he is harming our nation‚ You know he has sold all of us out. Why is he still at the Union Buildings? Between today and 18 April show respect for the cries of many of your members‚ your alliance partners and your many supporters. Recall Zuma!‚" he told Friday's People's March‚ referring to the motion of no confidence in the president that will be debated in parliament.

"Those who handed the mettle over to you were always on the side of good. Honour them and show Zuma the door‚" he said.

• 'If Msholozi is a criminal‚ why is he not in jail?'The ANC Youth League in KwaZulu-Natal said they will stand up for Zuma - until they replace him with Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in two years' time. 

"...Today we the People call on all Parliamentarians to hear our cry! We call on our Representatives to support a motion of no confidence regardless of the party that tables it." Pityana said Friday marked the beginning of a new struggle‚ "a long struggle‚ the long walk of our generation to a new freedom".

"Today is a very‚ very important day for our democracy. It is a crucial day in our push back against state capture‚ corruption and the corrosion of our democracy. "It is a crucial day in showing those who hold the levers of the power that we‚ the people‚ will not sit back and watch them eat."

Pityana asked South Africans to lobby MPs ahead of the no confidence debate.

"Zuma is not going to go easily... So we have to carry on. We have to keep up the pressure... "We call on them to do the right thing‚ and vote for their country rather than their party during the vote of no confidence.

"Phone‚ email or Whatsapp your MP. March to your local constituency office. Petition Parliament‚ or sign our own People’s Motion of No Confidence in this man‚ which already has more than 35 000 signatures to back it up. Do whatever you can to ensure that when MPs vote on 18 April‚ they express what millions of South Africans are feeling: that they have absolutely no confidence in President Zuma. And he must go."