Pityana leads calls for Zuma to step down
THOUSANDS of chanting Nelson Mandela Bay residents added their voices to a growing chorus of calls for President Jacob Zuma to step down yesterday when they gathered en masse in front of the Port Elizabeth City Hall.
Minutes before the mass rally headed by Save SA’s Sipho Pityana started, Cosatu also publicly called on Zuma to step down, saying he lacked leadership.
The rally came after South Africans woke up on Friday to the news of Zuma’s Cabinet reshuffle late on Thursday night.
ANC leaders such as Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, secretary-general Gwede Mantashe and treasurergeneral Zweli Mkhize have all voiced their unhappiness about the Cabinet reshuffle.
The gathering in front of the Port Elizabeth City Hall was part of a larger build-up to a much anticipated “shutdown” on Friday by different organisations calling for Zuma’s head.
Pityana was welcomed with cheers by the crowds before his address. He made it clear that the protest was about Zuma, not the ANC.
“I see messages here that are an appeal to ANC members to not join us. This is not against ANC but against Zuma,” Pityana said.
“We all fought as different races believing in a non-racial SA. Nobody has a right to take that away as citizens.
“That is what is confronting us today. A leader whom we elected as the president of our country representing Vuyisile Mini’s political party whose role in liberation we cherished.
“While the nation sleeps, in dark hours Zuma decided a final onslaught to reshuffle his Cabinet and fire Pravin Gordhan and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas,” Pityana as the crowds chanted.
Save SA co-organiser and 1980s Port Elizabeth UDF spokesman, Mkhuseli Jack, told the crowds that Jonas was unable to attend the gathering in Port Elizabeth.
“Due to changes in his programmes he is unable to make it today,” Jack said.
Former ANC MP and Port Elizabeth Black Sash leader Judy Chalmers told the crowd she was disappointed by what was happening in the country.
“Thirty-two years ago our beloved country was in mourning for those who had died at the hands of the security forces. Thousands who gave their lives in a desperate struggle for democracy.
“We never dreamed that in a short three decades we would be gathering once more in a desperate struggle to free our land from the clutches of a greedy, heartless cabal, some of who are not South African.” — TMG