Why all this pressure for JZ to go? asks Hands Off Jacob Zuma campaign

President Jacob Zuma must finish his term and not be removed before 2019.

This is the call of a group of organisations running a campaign called Hands Off Jacob Zuma.

“There are more than 14 organisations that are part of this … We believe that the president should leave the presidency in 2019 as he was elected by the people of South Africa‚” said Jabu Ntusi‚ president of the SA Unemployed Workers’ Union.

“We don’t know what the pressure is for. We are waiting patiently for 2019. We are saying President Zuma must stay. He will leave in 2019 when his term of office finishes.

“It is certain individuals [who want Zuma to leave office] it is not the ANC. To us as civil society we are saying every day we read new stories about President Zuma. We are tired of those stories. We know that he is under attack because of the implementation of radical economic transformation.”

The union is expected to brief the media on Friday on its campaign to keep Zuma in Mahlamba Ndlopfu.

Since Cyril Ramaphosa took over as the president of the ANC‚ there have been growing calls for Zuma to step down. The Sowetan reported on Friday that the top six leadership of the ANC would hold a meeting on Sunday in which it is expected to ask Zuma to step down.

The meeting follows a recent ANC national working committee gathering where it was agreed that Zuma should not be allowed to address the nation at the official opening of Parliament next Thursday‚ the newspaper reported.