Civil society welcomes Zuma recall

A number of civic rights organisations - under the banner of Future South Africa - have welcomed the call by the ANC national executive committee to recall State President Jacob Zuma.

While they said they were extremely happy at the recall of Zuma‚ the umbrella body said it had to be the just the beginning for there to be meaningful change.

"We call on the ANC to ensure that President Zuma abides by this resolution and‚ if necessary‚ is removed from office by a vote of no confidence before the end of this week. It's not the end of the campaign. We hope that the end of Zuma's era will be the start of a 'clean-up campaign' to end to endemic corruption and state capture and restore of the constitutional vision of social justice‚ equality and sovereignty of the state‚" said Mandla Nkomfe‚ convenor of Future SA.

"We the people [of South Africa] made it impossible for the ANC to keep Zuma as the president and now it's time for the final push to remove him as the state president through a motion of no confidence.

“We recognise that these are extraordinary times and that each day President Zuma serves in the highest office the land‚ is a danger to society‚" said Nkomfe.

The statement came just hours after the ruling party officially announced that the NEC took a decision to recall Zuma as head of state. While ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule was at pain to state that there was no deadline for Zuma to respond to the decision‚ he said he was "sure" it would happen by Wednesday.

Nkomfe on behalf of civil organisations‚ called for the new leadership to immediately call on all Cabinet ministers who have been implicated in state capture allegations to be removed.

Amongst those ministers are Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba‚ Minister of Energy David Mahlobo‚ Minister of Mineral Resources Mosebenzi Zwane‚ Deputy Minister of Public Enterprises Ben Martins and Minister of Cooperative Governance Des van Rooyen.

Nkomfe also demanded that Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini also be fired for the social grants saga‚ which put the lives of vulnerable citizens in danger.

"More South Africans have fallen into greater levels of poverty because of his government’s actions. Some of his leaders alleged to not only have stolen from the people‚ but they also threaten the provision of social grants to millions of people. His cronies treat state-owned companies as their personal toys‚" said Nkomfe.

He added that although Zuma's era has come to "an end"‚ the price of his presidency will be South Africa's debt for a long time.

Sheila Sisulu‚ of South African Women's Coalition‚ echoed Nkomfe's sentiments about the appointment of ministers.

"In the selection of ministers that will have to happening the governing party has to think seriously about the competence and efficiency record of those that they select and appoint in those positions. All those who do not show signs of efficiency and competence should not be part of the national revolutionary process‚" she said.

She added that when the motion of no confidence is tabled against Zuma‚ the ANC caucus in Parliament must "think with their heads and not with their hearts" when the time comes.

The NEC decided to recall Zuma after he refused to resign following a marathon discussion between him and the ANC's top brass.

His imminent recall has also hindered the National Assembly's programming. The state of the nation address‚ which would have been held on Thursday last week‚ had to be postponed.

Among others‚ Future South Africa demanded Ramaphosa and his leadership that no minister must be allowed to use state funds to bring frivolous legal actions against the Raymond Zondo Commission into State Capture.

They also called for the immediate appointment of competent men and women to head up state-owned companies and other key state institutions; urgently restore operations at Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa and that parliamentary inquiries into State Capture at Eskom‚ Denel‚ Transnet must continue.