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Wednesday, February 14, 2018, 23:11
South African president Zuma disagrees to resign
By Xinhua
Wednesday, February 14, 2018, 23:11 By Xinhua

In this file photo taken on Nov 21, 2017 South Africa's President Jacob Zuma arrives for a presidential Gala dinner at the NASREC Expo Centre in Johannesburg on the eve of South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) 54th National Conference. (WIKUS DE WET / AFP)

JOHANNESBURG - South African President Jacob Zuma, in an exclusive interview with South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) on Wednesday, said he disagrees with the ruling party decision for him to resign.     

It was very unfair to me that this issue is raised...Nobody has ever provided the reasons. Nobody is saying what I have done

Jacob Zuma, South Africa President

Zuma broke his silence when pressure to resign mounts on him as he spoke to the SABC from Union Building in Pretoria.

He said the effort to remove him by the African National Congress, the ruling party, was "unfair", and demanded reasons why he must resign and maintained he did nothing wrong.

"It was very unfair to me that this issue is raised...Nobody has ever provided the reasons. Nobody is saying what I have done," he said in the interview.    

Zuma was recalled by the ruling party, African National Congress on Tuesday. The ANC stated that they cannot allow Zuma to continue ruling the country for the next 3-6 months which he had requested.     

"I indicated to the top six (ANC leaders) that what they have raised is not the first time. They have raised it in the NEC (National Executive Committee) itself twice and nobody has ever been able to tell me what the issue is. The NEC themselves said that I must resign, and I find that very strange that I should do so because this is not the first time that they've said this," Zuma said.

"It's not a new matter, I need to be furnished with what is it that I have done and unfortunately nobody has been able to tell me what is it that I've done. There are processes in the ANC that need to be followed if I have been doing something wrong," he said.

While expressing his disagreement to resign, Zuma said he is not defying the decision by the leadership of the ruling party.

Vote of no confidence to be held Thursday 

The South Africa Parliament will on Thursday discuss a vote of no confidence against Zuma.   

The motion had been scheduled for Feb 22, 2018 and the opposition political party, Economic Freedom Fighters requested for the change of dates.     

The speaker of parliament said that she has written to the leader of the EFF Julius Malema informing him of the change of dates. The no-confidence vote will be on Thursday at 1400 hours.     

The ruling party had defended Zuma on several occasions on the no-confidence vote. It is expected that this time they will vote with the opposition to remove Zuma. The ruling party gave Zuma until Wednesday to respond to the recall. 

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