Zuma resignation should not result in amnesty: Maimane

Jacob Zuma should not be given amnesty or immunity in lieu of his resignation from office.

This was the immediate reaction of DA leader Mmusi Maimane to the stepping-down of the fourth democratically elected president of South Africa on Wednesday night.

In a statement‚ Maimane said the DA welcomed Zuma’s “overdue resignation” and called for him to face the 783 criminal charges still awaiting him before the courts.

“Even in his resignation speech tonight‚ he refused to take any responsibility for his actions‚ and for the harm he caused the country. Such shameless disdain requires a level of pathology that reveals Jacob Zuma’s true nature‚” he said.

Maimane said that now that the ANC decided to recall him as state president‚ Zuma must face charges and be prosecuted.

"Zuma built a deep system of corruption that has penetrated every part of the government and the criminal prosecution system. These criminal networks run deep‚ and will not be easy to uproot. It will take more than talk of a New Deal‚” he said.

The DA has repeated its call for a dissolution of parliament so that the newly-elected president received a mandate from the public.